College 
Lib. 
ND 
467 
H91p 
v.2 


THE  LIBRARY 

OF 

THE  UNIVERSITY 

OF  CALIFORNIA 

LOS  ANGELES 


A 


\  T 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM 


AND 


THE  PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD 


Pre  -  Raphaeli  tism 

and  the 

Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood 


BY 


W.    HOLMAN    HUNT,  O.M.,  D.C.L. 


TWO   VOLUMES 

WITH  40  PHOTOGRAVURE   PLATES,  AND 
OTHER  ILLUSTRATIONS 


VOL.    II 


iLoittion 

MACMILLAN    AND    CO.,  LIMITED 

NEW    YORK   :      THE     MACMILLAN    COMPANY 
1905 

All  rights  reseri-ed 


College 
Library 


CONTENTS 

CHAPTER    I 

1855 

Dr.  Sim,  Robert  Dick,  and  I  go  to  the  Mount  of  Olives — Heavy  snow — 
Lord  and  Lady  Napier  and  Frederick  Lockwood  arrive — Sir  Moses 
Montefiore — Duke  of  Brabant — Visit  to  the  Mosque — Max  and  the 
pistol — Contention  with  the  Bishop  concerning  Arab  converts— Letter 
from  Millais  —  Jerusalem  ladies  come  to  see  my  picture  —  Send 
"  Scapegoat "  to  England  —  Description  of  the  Church  of  the 
Sepulchre  .......  Page  i 

CHAPTER    II 

1855 

A  case  to  prove  the  honesty  of  Jewish  conversion—  I  secure  a  Jew  as  model 
—  Story  of  the  mercer  —  Visit  Levies  house — Levi  induces  me  to  advance 
money — Warder  Cressen — Water  colour  of  Gihon — Succumb  to  fever 
— Graham — Send  boxes  to  Oxford — Mr.  Poole — Journey  to  Nazareth, 
Tiberias,  Lake  of  Meron,  and  Mount  Hermon  —  Syrian  landscape — 
Country  between  Tabor  and  Tiberias — Guide  and  Issa  converse  about 
my  faith — Tents  pitched  on  burial-ground — Cholera  raging — Ride  to 
outlet  of  lake — Mukarv  refuses  to  stay  through  the  night — Ride  to  the 
spring  of  Capernaum — Climb  to  Sarid — Graham  departs  westwards  22 


CHAPTER    III 

1855-1856 

Plain  of  Merom — Issa  does  not  appreciate  the  scene — Cssarea  Philippi — 
Moslem  boy  lost  —  Hasbeya  —  Dahr  al  Akmar  —  Damascus  —  Consul- 
General  Sir  Henry  Wood — Zebedeen — Arrive  at  Baalbec — Temple — 
Sleep  under  lean-to — Unconscious  actor  to  delighted  audience — Ascend 

V 


1462-615 


vi  PRE-RAPHAELITISM 


Lebanon  —  Reach  Beyrout  and  part  with  Issa — Take  ship  to  Con- 
stantinople for  the  Crimea — Cholera  and  mutiny  on  board — Arrive  at 
Crimea  ........  Page  52 


CHAPTER    IV 
1856 

Travel  from  Marseilles  to  Paris — iMike  Halliday — February  1856 — Halliday 
and  I  take  house  together — Millais  in  Scotland  with  newly  married  wife 
— Rossetti  in  Oxford — Miss  Siddal — My  sister  becomes  my  pupil- 
Christina  Rossetti's  sonnet  on  the  P.R.B. — Exhibition  in  Charlotte  Street — 
Woolner's  return  from  Australia — Several  artists  working  on  our  lines 
— Madox  Brown  steadfastly  doing  so  in  "The  Last  of  England  "- 
Annual  prizes  at  Liverpool  —  Arthur  Hughes — Millais'  marriage — 
Ruskin  and  his  marriage — Visit  Oxford- — Pot-boilers — Small  "Eve  of 
St.  Agnes"  sold  to  Mr.  Miller — Gambart  treats  for  copyright  of 
"Light  of  the  World" — Copyright  in  England  and  France — Ford 
Madox  Brown  —  Brown  and  Rossetti  combine  with  us  for  exhibi- 
tion of  small  works  —  Compare  Miss  Siddal  and  Deverell  —  Rossetti 
offended — Illustrations  to  Tennyson — Rossetti's  designs — The  volume 
a  commercial  failure — Menzel's  work — Private  view  of  "Scapegoat" 
—  Millais  brings  his  pictures  to  London  —  Ruskin — John  Luard's  first 
picture  done  in  the  Crimea — Millais'  "Peace"  and  "Burning  Leaves  "- 
Gambart's  strictures  on  the  "Scapegoat" — Criticisms  on  the  picture  in 
The  Times,  etc. — Further  comments  in  press  on  P.R.B.  pictures  83 

CHAPTER    V 

1855-1856 

Leighton — Go  to  Oxford — Work  at  Clarendon  Press — Thackeray  stands 
for  Parliament — His  visit  to  the  Combes — Mi'.  Combe  persuades  me  to 
become  a  candidate  for  R.A.  Associateship — Enrolled  myself  for  winter 
election — Watts — Emma  Brandling — Little  Holland  House — Woolner — 
Tennyson  with  the  Camerons  at  Roehampton — Browning — Tennyson 
demurs  to  my  illustrations — Death  of  my  father — 'Seddon — Take  Hook's 
house  on  Campden  Hill — Lady  Goodrich's  dinner  party — The  Carlyles 
— Woodward  and  the  Oxford  Museum — Rossetti  paints  at  Union  Club, 
Oxford  —  First  meeting  with  Burne- Jones  —  Fitting  up  my  house  at 
Kensington — Bachelor  parties  at  Henry  Vaux't: — Hogarth  Club — Burne- 
Jones—  Leighton  .  .  .  .  .  .  115 

CHAPTER    VI 

l856-57-58 

Life  School  at  Kensington  —  Member  of  Academy  banters  me  on  our 
principles — He  tells  me  lion,  when  my  name  was  canvassed  for,  only 
one  voted  for  me -Mrs.  Combe  taken  by  Mrs.  Collins  to  private 
views-  Arthur  Lewis's  social  gatherings — Fred  Walker — The  begin- 
ning of  his  career —  Visit  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George  Grove  and  Mr.  and 


CONTENTS  vii 

Mrs.  Phillips — Paint  part  of  architecture  for  Temple  picture  at  Crystal 
Palace — Millais  exhibits  "Sir  Isumbras  " -  —  Tom  Taylor's  imitation 
of  ancient  ballad  —  Ruskin's  denunciation  of  the  picture  —  Charles 
Reade  buys  it — Frederick  Sandys's  caricature — Ford  \ladox  Brown — 
Mr.  and  Mrs.  Combe  visit  Brown's  studio — Letter  from  Brown  about 
Carlyle  —  Oxford  Museum  —  O'Shea  —  Manchester  Loan  Exhibition  — 
Conversation  with  Fairbairn  about  public  neglect  of  Woolner — Woolner 
and  his  work — Brown's  "  Christ  washing  Peter's  Feet "  exhibited  at 
Manchester — Rossetti  avoids  Millais  and  myself — Ruskin's  appreciation 
of  Rossetti's  power — Cardiff  Cathedral  altar-piece  —  Combined  action 
\\ith  Rossetti  impossible — Assemblies  at  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Thoby  Princep's 
—  Anecdotes  of  Tennyson  and  Thackeray — Remonstrances  on  my 
"  idleness "  from  unknown  correspondents  .  .  Page  142 


CHAPTER    VII 

1858-1859,  1860 

Visit  to  Tennyson — Comments  on  Millais'  "Vale  of  Rest"  and  other  works 
— Comparison  of  Millais  and  Raphael,  etc. — George  Leslie  delivers 
his  father's  dying  message  to  Millais — G.  F.  Watts — Thornbury's  criti- 
cism in  the  Aihenanim  on  P.R.B.-ism — The  Combes  at  Oxford — The 
building  of  St.  Barnabas  Church — University  Press — Conference  on  ways 
and  means — Our  relations  with  Dickens — Wilkie  Collins — His  room — 
Visit  to  Charles  Dickens  in  Tavistock  Square — The  Duchess  of  Argyll — 
Gambart's  treatment  of  my  terms — Chat  with  Thackeray  at  Cosmopolitan 
Club — Woolner's  group  for  Sir  Walter  Trevelyan — Gambart  appeals 
to  me  to  write  a  pamphlet  on  Pre-Raphaelitism  or  a  memoir  — 
G.  Stephens  undertakes  it  .  .  .  .  .  171 

CHAPTER    VIII 

1860-1861,   1862 

Breakfast  with  Gladstone — The  Rev.  Joseph  Wolf — Walking  tour  in  1860 
with  Tennyson,  Palgrave,  Wroolner— Gad's  Hill — Charles  Collins  and 
Kate  Dickens — 1861,  Morris's  business  formed — Poynter's picture  "Faith- 
ful unto  Death  " — Injury  from  fire  to  the  Temple  picture — Restoration  of 
it  —  Portrait  of  Dr.  Lushington — 1862  Exhibition — Prince  Consort's  death 
-Morris  and  Company's  first  efforts  at  furniture — Woolner  .  199 

CHAPTER    IX 

1862-1864 

Jacob  Omnium  controversy  in  Tima — Deatli  of  Augustus  Egg — Letter 
from  Dickens  —  Visit  to  Sir  Thomas  Fairbairn  —  Wingrove  Cook  — 
Conversation  about  Thackeray — Trelawney — George  Meredith — Pro- 
posal for  George  Meredith  to  live  with  Rossetti — Marriage  of  the  Prince 
of  Wales  —  Visit  of  Prince  and  Princess  of  Wales  to  Exhibition  — 


viii  PRE-RAPHAELITISM 

Garibaldi's  visit  to  England — Dr.  Sewell  consults  me  about  art  master 
for  Radley — Baron  Lys — Breakfast  at  the  Duke  of  Argyll's — Royal 
Academy  efforts  to  pacify  malcontents — G.  F.  Watts  .  Page  227 


CHAPTER   X 

1865-1869 

Beamont  and  St.  Michael's,  Cambridge — My  delay  in  returning  to  the  East 
—My  marriage — "The  Festival  of  St.  Swithin  " — Fred  Walker— My 
bank  stops  payment — Start  for  East — Stop  at  Marseilles — Cholera  pre- 
vailing— Go  to  Florence — Quarantine  against  ships  from  Marseilles — 
Commence  "Isabella" — Death  of  my  wife — Return  to  England — Collins 
—  Dickens  —  Return  to  Florence  to  complete  tomb — Meet  Ruskin  in 
Venice — Conversations  with  Ruskin — Return  to  Jerusalem  .  250 


CHAPTER    XI 

1869-1874 

Commence  "Shadow  of  Death" — Dar  Berruk  Dar — Bethlehem  —  The  Crown 
Prince  of  Prussia — Go  to  Nazareth — Cana — Captain  Luard  comes  to  me 
— Ride  to  Jerusalem  with  news  of  Franco-German  War — Fever — Dr. 
Chaplin — Visit  to  Pasha  in  Armenian  church — Liberation  of  Ezaak,  my 
model  —  Conclude  my  picture — Visitors  —  Picture  arrives  in  London — 
Elizabeth  Thompson  Briton  Riviere  .  .  .  272 


CHAPTER    XII 

1873-1887 

Meet  Tissot — Charles  Collins's  death — Arthur  Hughes — -My  marriage  again 
—Captain  Warren — Meeting  with  Lieutenant  Kitchener — Trouble  from 
non-arrival  of  cases — "The  Ship"  picture  —  Begin  " Innocents "  on 
Jerusalem  linen— -Make  an  expedition  towards  Ascalon — I  hear  my  cases 
are  on  the  quay  at  Jaffa — I  go  there — Go  south  to  paint  rest  of  back- 
ground of  picture — Enter  new  studio  --Visit  of  the  Mahomedan  ladies 
— Expedition  to  Jordan  and  Dead  Sea — Send  family  to  Greek  convent  at 
Jaffa — I  remain  at  work — After  two  and  a  halt  years  return  with  partly 
finished  painting — Whilst  1  am  away  send  my  picture  "  Nazareth  "  for 
exhibition—  -Browning — His  son—  Browning  and  Rossetti — Visit  to  my 
old  studio  in  Chelsea — Typhoid  fever— -Sir  William  Gull — Millais  advises 
me  to  have  the  picture  relined  —  "Light  of  the  World"  restored - 
Abandon  Jerusalem  "Innocents"  —  Recommence  on  new  canvas — 
Sleeplessness — Illness  —  Go  to  Switzerland  —  Continue  "Innocents" 
Finish  same — Exhibition  at  "Fine  Arts"  112 


CONTENTS  ix 

CHAPTER   XIII 

1887,  1888 

Photogravure  executed  by  Goupil — Pall  Mall  Gazette  letters — Lawless — -F. 
Walker — Calderon — Walter  Crane — Clifton — Rossetti's  death — -Articles 
in  Contemporary — Address  at  Rossetti's  fountain — Madox  Brown — Whistler 
— Herkomer — Rev.  E.  Young — Rossetti — Spencer  Stanhope — Strudwick 
—  Shields  —  Gilbert  and  Sullivan's  Patience — E.  R.  Hughes  —  Millais 
compared  with  Burton — John  Brett  compared  with  myself — Millais  made 
a  baronet  —  Millais  and  Rossetti  —  Millais  and  I  walk  to  see  Keane  — 
Bishop's  Moat — Charles  Keane  .  .  Page  344 

CHAPTER  XIV 

1889-1896 

Commence  "The  Lady  of  Shalott  " — "  May  Morning  " — Last  meeting  with 
Mrs.  Combe — Mrs.  Combe's  death —  Sale  of  "Finding  of  Saviour  in 
the  Temple " — Picture  purchased  by  Agnew,  afterwards  by  J.  T. 
Middlemore,  M.P. — Exhibition  of  "May  Morning" — Journey  through 
Italy,  Greece,  Egypt,  to  the  East — Illustrations  to  Sir  Edwin  Arnold's  Light 
of  the  World — "Holy  Fire"  picture — Mr.  Middlemore  purchases  "  The 
Innocents"  and  "Christ  with  the  Rabbis" — Scott's  death — Banquet  at 
Guildhall — Madox  Brown'sposition — Leighton's  death — William  Morris's 
death — Millais'  death — Burne-Jones's  style — Richmond,  etc. — Last  talk 
with  Watts — Multiplication  of  artists  by  Government  schools — English 
artists  ousted  by  foreigners — Auction  prices  .  .  .  377 

CHAPTER    XV 
RETROSPECT 


•Light  of  the  World  "  and  Keble  College — Controversy  about  leadership  of 
P.R.B.  —  Brown's  diary  —  Extracts  from  William  Rossetti  —  Si/.eranne's 
letter — Extracts  from  William  Rossetti — Stephens,  W.  Sharp,  W.  Bell 
Scott  .......  404 


CHAPTER    XVI 

RETRO-PHUT 

Criticisms  on  "  Claudio  and  Isabella " — Price  of  "  The  Two  Gentlemen 
of  Verona" — Stephens  controversy  in  1859  on  Academy — Maclise — Old 
system  of  apprenticeship  —  Artists'  materials  —  George  Field's  colours  — 
The  old  masters'  colouring — Mulready's  "Wedding  Gown" — Want  of 
care  by  exhibitors  and  carriers — The  injury  many  critics  have  done — Lord 
Leighton  on  art  influence — Art  and  morality — Chaucer — Art  of  different 
races — My  opinion  of  French  art  .  .  .  438 


x  PRE-RAPHAELITISM 

CHAPTER   XVII 

RETROSPECT 

Impressionism — American  book  on  French  studentship—  Lord  Curzon  on 
Indian  art — German  Emperor's  speech — Arguments  for  protection  against 
piracy  —  Titian's  "Bacchus  and  Ariadne "- —The  decoration  of  the 
Houses  of  Parliament — Connection  between  art  and  morals — Sickly 
literature — Signs  of  a  nation's  dissolution — The  nineteenth  century  an 
age  of  revival — Present  Exhibitions  show  disrespect  of  fundamental 
principles  of  sanity  and  reverence — Galileo — Defence  of  Pre-Raphaelites — 
The  influence  modern  writers  possess — Mr.  Finberg's  article  in  the  National 
Re-view — Final  warnings  against  Impressionism — Prophecy  of  Constable 
— Sir  Joshua  Reynolds's  famous  dictum  .  Page  4.68 


ILLUSTRATIONS 


PHOTOGRAVURE   PLATES 

The    Scapegoat.       (In    the    possession    of  Sir   Cuthbert 

Ouilter,  Bart.)  .....  Frontispiece 
The  Bride  of  Bethlehem.  (In  the  possession  of  Henry 

Haslam,  Esq.)  ....  To  face  page  22 

Amaryllis.  (In  the  possession  of  the  Executors  of 

George  Lillie  Craik,  Esq.)  .  .,64 

Sir  Richard  Owen,  K.C.B.,  D.C.L.  .  „  96 

Pontc  Vecchio.  (South  Kensington  Museum)  ,,  120 

The  Tuscan  Straw  Plaiter.  (In  the  possession  of 

F.  Austin,  Esq.)  .  .  .  .  .  ,,  144 

The  Finding  of  Christ  in  the  Temple.  (Birmingham 

Art  Gallery)  .  .  .  .  .  „  176 

Christ  amongst  the  Doctors.  (In  the  possession  of  }.  T. 

Middlemore,  Esq.)  .  .  .  218 

London  Bridge,  Night  of  the  Marriage  of  the  Prince  and 

Princess  of  Wales,  March  10,  1863.     (In  the  Combe 

Bequest,  Taylor  Buildings,  Oxford)  .  .  ,,  242 

The  Festival  of  St.  Swithin.  (Taylor  Buildings, 

Oxford)      .  .  .  .  .  .          ,,  252 

Isabella  and  the  Pot  of  Basil.  (In  the  possession  of  Mrs. 

Hall,  Newcastle)  .  .  .  .  .  ,,  255 

The  Shadow  of  Death.  (Manchester  Art  Gallery)  .  ,,  306 
W.  Holman  Hunt.  By  Sir  W.  B.  Richmond,  R.A.  .  „  313 


xii  PRE-RAPHAELITISM 

The  Triumph  of  the  Innocents.      Smaller  Version.      (In 

the  possession  of  Mr.  Sydney  Morse)  .  To  face  page  327 

The  Triumph  of  the  Innocents.  Larger  Version.  (In 

the  possession  of  J.  T.  Middlemore,  Esq.,  M.P.)     .          ,,          342 
The  Terrace,  Berne      .  .  .  .  .          .,          352 

May  Morning,  Magdalen  Tower  .  .  ,,  378 

The  Miracle  of  Sacred  Fire,  Church  of  the  Sepulchre  .  ,,  385 
The  Tracer.  (In  the  possession  of  Hilary  L.  Holman 

Hunt,  Esq.)  .  .  .  .  .  ,,  418 

Sorrow.  (In  the  possession  of  the  Executors  of  George 

Lillie  Craik,  Esq.)  .  .  .  .  ,,  460 

W.  Holman  Hunt.  By  Sir  W.  B.  Richmond,  R.A.  (In 

the  possession  of  the  Painter)          .  .  .          ,,          470 

IN    TEXT 

PAGE 

The  Lantern  Maker's  Courtship.     (In  the  possession  of  the  Right 

Hon.  W.  Kenrick)  .        17 

Study  of  Jew      .  .  .25 

Examples  of  Jewish  Type  .  .  .  .  .27 

The   Plain   of   Rephaim  from  Mount   Zion.      (In  the  possession 

of  Jesse  Haworth,  Esq.)       .  .  .  .  .35 

From  Mosque  As  Sakreh  .  .  .  .  -37 

Nazareth.      (In  the  possession  of  Jesse  Haworth,  Esq.)    .  .        39 

Jenin     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .41 

Lake  of  Tiberias.      A.  Hughes,  from  Sketch  by  //".  //.  //.  .        47 

Jordan  from  Lake  Tiberias  .  .  .  .  .49 

Hasbcya  .  .  .  .  .  .61 

Ruins  of  Baalbcc.    (In  the  possession  of  Mrs.  Tristram  Valentine)        68 
Temple  at  Baalbec  .  .  ...        69 

Halt  for  the  Night,  Zahlc  .  .  -77 

Constantinople  .  .  ....        79 

Smyrna  Roadstead  .  .  .  .  .  .80 

Youthful  Designs — Leigh  Hunt's  Captain  Sword  and  Captain  Pen        81 
Cemetery,  Pera.      (Taylor  Buildings,  Oxford)      .  f  .84 

Death  of  Chatterton.     Henry  H'liHis       .  .  .89 


ILLUSTRATIONS  xiii 

PAGE 

April  Love.      Arthur  Hughes       .  .  .  .  .91 

Experimental  Design  for  "  Cophetua  "    .  .  .  .98 

Trial  Sketch  for  "The  Lady  of  Shalott  "  .  .  .99 

Trial  Sketch  for  "The  Lady  of  Shalott  "  .  .  .100 

Design  for  "The  Lady  of  Shalott,"  from  Wood  .  101 

Design  for  Haroun  al  Raschid    .  .  .  .  .102 

Design  for  Haroun  al  Raschid    .  .  .  .103 

Experimental  Design  for  "  Oriana  "         ....      107 

Frederick  Leighton,  aged  21,  by  Himself.      (In  the  possession  of 

the  Hon.  Lady  Leighton  Warren)  .  .  .  .117 

The  Mill  Pond.      R.  Spencer  Stanhope    .  .  .  135 

Sideboard  and  Chairs      .  .  .  .  .  .137 

The  Wife's  Death  .  .  .  .  .  .147 

Frederick  Walker's  Design  .  .  .  .  .150 

Frederick  Walker's  Design  for  Invitation  Card    .  .  .151 

The  Lent  Jewell  (illustrating  Dean  Trench's  Poem)        .  .155 

Thomas  Combe,  M.A.  .  .  .  .  .  .182 

Mrs.  Thomas  Combe.      (Taylor  Buildings,  Oxford)         .  .183 

II  Dolce  far  Niente.     (In  the  possession  of  T.  Brocklebank,  Esq.)      204 
Helston,  Cornwall  ......      207 

The  Right  Hon.  Stephen  Lushington.    (In  the  possession  of  Judge 

Lushington)  ......      220 

King  of  Hearts.      (In  the  possession  of  the  Earl  of  Carnarvon)   .      223 
Design  for  Lectern,  Cambridge  .  .  .251 

My  Wife,  Fanny  Holman  Hunt  .  .  .  .253 

The  Sunday  Toast.      (Letter  to  my  Child)  .  .  .258 

Senaculum          .......     274 

Jerusalem  by  Twilight    .  .  .  .  .  .275 

Letter  to  my  Son  ......      277 

Letter  to  my  Son  .  ...      278 

Letter  to  my  Son  .  .  .279 

View  of  Zion  and  Pool  of  Gihon  .  .  .  .281 

A  new  Convert  (from  Letter  to  my  Son,  1869)  .  .  .283 

Roof  of  my  House  at  Jerusalem  ....      284 

Letter  to  my  Son  .  .  .  .  .  .285 


xiv  PRE-RAPHAELITISM 

PAGE 

Letter  to  my  Child          ......      286 

Letter  to  my  Child         ......      287 

Miriam,  my  Cook  .  .  .  .  .  .291 

Study  for  Fig  Tree          ......      293 

Study  for  Head  of  Christ  .....      297 

Letter  to  my  Child          ......      299 

Letter  to  my  Child          .  .  .  .  .301 

Robert  B.  Martineau       .  .  .  .      309 

Charles  A.  Collins  .  .  .  .  .  313 

Convent  Thoughts.     Charles  Collins.     (Taylor  Buildings,  Oxford)      315 
My  Wife,  Edith  Holman  Hunt  .  .  .  .      317 

Sketch  made  in  Synagogue          .  .  .  .  .318 

From  Sketch-Book          .  .  .  .  .319 

From  Sketch-Book  .  .  .  .  .  .320 

My  Son  Cyril    .  .  .  .  .  .  .322 

Silverpoint  Study  for  St.  Joseph  ("Triumph  of  the  Innocents")      323 
My  Daughter  Gladys      .  .  .  .  -325 

From  Sketch-Book  .  .  .  .  .  .329 

From  Sketch-Book  .  .  .  .  .  .330 

The  Sailor  Boy's  Return.      Arthur  Hughes  .  .  .332 

The  Father's  Leave-Taking         .  .  .  .  -333 

Portrait  Designs  .  .  .  .  .  .334 

My  Son  Hilary  .  .  .  .      336 

My  Daughter  Gladys      .  .  .  .  -337 

Portrait  Design  .  .  .  .  .  -339 

The  Moat,  Fulham  Palace  .  .  .  .  371 

Study  for  "The  Vision  of  the  Shepherds."      (In  the  possession  of 

Hilary  L.  Holman   Hunt)  .  .  .  .  -379 

The  Nile  Postman          .  .  .  .  .381 

Corfu     .  .  .  .  .  .  .  -383 

The  Pearl.      (In  the  possession  of  ].  Gollancz,  Esq.)       .  .      397 

Found.      D.  G.  Rossetti.      (In  the  possession  of  Col.  Gillum)      .     432 
D.  G.  Rossetti,  1853      ......      447 


CHAPTER    I 

1855 

But  whosoever  chooseth  the  lite  to  Come  and  directeth  his  en- 
deavour towards  the  same,  being  also  a  true  believer,  the  endeavour 
of  these  shall  be  acceptable  unto  God. — Al  Koran. 

THE  winter  came  with  its  succession  of  storms  of  some 
days'  duration,  leaving  two  or  three  feet  of  snow  on  the 
ground.  On  January  the  yth,  my  friend  Dr.  Sim,  with 
Robert  Dick,  a  Scotch  farmer's  wandering  son,  came 
and  accompanied  me  to  the  summit  of  the  Mount  of 
Olives.  It  was  interesting  on  looking  eastward  to 
notice  that  just  below  Bethany  the  snow  ceased,  and 
did  not  appear  again  until  far  over  the  Jordan,  the  range 
twenty  miles  distant,  where  it  formed  a  horizontal  line, 
above  which  all  the  mountains  of  Moab  and  Nebo,  as  far 
as  eye  could  reach,  were  white.  On  returning  to  my 
house  Sim  playfully  pretended  to  snowball  the  landlady's 
two  boys,  who  nestled  like  chickens  under  their  mother's 
skirts,  quite  cowed  by  the  unwelcome  winter.  With 
snow  gone,  on  the  highest  roof  of  Sim's  house,  I  finished 
the  clouds  and  sky  of  my  picture,  defying  the  bitter  cold 
and  wind  of  this  exposed  studio.  On  my  return  in  the 
evening  I  found  that  the  elder  of  the  boys  was  ill  in  bed, 
and  the  old  Bethlehem  cook  as  she  deposited  the  dinner 
on  the  table,  uttered  pious  ejaculations  about  him,  I  knew 
that  she  herself  was  the  mother  of  an  idle  and  selfish 

VOL.    II  I  B 


2  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

son,  she  asked  me  about  my  mother,  repeating,  "Poor 
mother,  poor  mother !  why  do  you  leave  her  ? "  As 
the  week  went  by,  the  parents'  anxiety  increased,  and 
on  my  return  home,  entering  the  sick-room  I  found  two 
good  Prussian  sisters  come  to  nurse,  and  the  doctor  with 
the  missionary  were  just  taking  leave,  offering  common- 
place consolations  to  the  mother,  which  led  me  to  see  that 
the  case  was  really  alarming.  I  referred  to  Dr.  Sim's 
wish  to  see  the  patient,  and  hoped  that  he  might  be 
brought  on  the  morrow  ;  the  woman  clutched  at  my  words. 
The  evening  was  a  sad  one.  I  had  my  pen  work  to  do, 
but  ere  retiring  I  went  again  to  see  the  boy,  and  cheered  the 
anxious  mother  as  well  as  I  could,  asking  that  I  might  be 
told  if  in  the  night  I  could  do  anything.  I  slept  with  far- 
away thoughts,  when  suddenly  my  senses  were  aroused 
by  a  turmoil  of  confusion  and  a  battering  at  the  door.  In 
distracted  tones  I  heard  the  mother's  words,  "  Oh,  Mr. 
Hunt,  Mr.  Hunt,  he  is  dead — he  is  dead — he  is  dead," 
and  behind  all  was  the  voice  of  the  Bethlehem  woman 
uttering  her  death  screech.  Hurriedly  I  jumped  up,  and 
in  the  darkness  snatched  on  my  clothes.  When  I 
opened  the  door  the  poor  woman  was  being  led  back  to 
the  chamber  by  her  husband  and  the  nurses.  She  took  me 
to  the  bedside  and  showed  her  dead  son,  appealing  to  me 
with  a  mother's  pride  to  say  that  he  was  beautiful.  I  sat 
up  till  dawn  making  a  portrait  of  the  boy  for  the  comfort 
of  the  family. 

With  the  sky  of  "  The  Scapegoat  "  completed  I  had 
now  to  finish  the  skeleton  camel  sketched  in  at  Oosdoom, 
from  one  found  near  Jerusalem.  My  first  hope  was  to 
complete  the  picture  in  time  to  send  it  to  London  for 
the  Royal  Academy,  but  owing  to  the  delay  in  finding  the 
third  suitable  goat,  this  had  become  impossible  and  the 
work  was  still  incomplete  at  Easter  when  many  English 
visitors  arrived.  Some  brought  introductions  to  me,  and 
meeting  congenial  company  was  a  pleasant  relief  to  the 
vexations  of  my  daily  work. 

While  the  city  was  more  cheerful   than  usual,   Lord 


i          PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD         3 

Napier  and  Ettrick,  with  Lady  Napier  and  her  young  sons, 
arrived,  and  Frederic  Lockwood,  whom  I  had  known  at 
Cairo,  came  over  to  meet  his  sister.  I  delayed  their  visit 
to  my  studio  in  order  that  the  "  Azazeel  "  should  be  nearer 
completion,  and  when  I  had  the  pleasure  of  showing 
them  my  work,  their  discriminating  and  cultivated 
judgment  was  of  pleasant  service  to  me,  after  I  had 
been  for  so  long  removed  from  the  opportunity  of  artistic 
opinion. 

An  ancient  quarry  which  penetrated  under  the  city 
had  been  recently  discovered.  The  Mahomedans  were 
very  jealous  about  it,  and  forbade  entrance,  but  Cayley, 
the  eccentric  traveller,  Brindley  Nixon,  and  other  young 
Englishmen  were  anxious  to  see  it,  and  Sim  and  I  under- 
took to  conduct  them.  Graham  lent  us  his  tower  on 
Olivet  for  the  night.  In  the  afternoon  we  left  the  city 
by  separate  gates,  and  waited  at  a  distance  until  the  last 
belated  wayfarers  had  re-entered  the  walls,  and  the  guards 
had  shut  the  heavy  doors  upon  themselves.  The  country 
around  was  by  that  time  quite  abandoned,  and  we  made 
the  necessary  circuit  to  the  Damascus  gate,  cautiously 
creeping  close  up  to  the  foundations,  beyond  sight  of 
the  city  ramparts,  in  order  to  reach  the  opening  to  the 
cave.  It  was  not  difficult  to  remove  a  stone  or  two  put 
there  to  seal  up  the  entrance,  and  one  by  one  we  crept 
in.  After  about  eigrht  feet  of  level  rock  there  was  a 

O 

drop  of  the  same  extent  ;  inside  we  lit  our  candles  and 
waited  for  the  whole  party  to  descend.  We  proceeded, 
touching  the  quarried  rock  with  our  left  hands  ;  follow- 
ing along  we  came  to  chambers  where  the  quality  of  the 
stone  had  tempted  the  ancient  masons  to  extend  their 
operations.  In  parts  water  dripped  from  the  roof  into 
pools,  where  the  splashed  surface  ot  the  rock  was  glazed 
and  rounded  ;  the  blocks  lying  about  had  all  been  worked 
into  measure  and  form,  as  the  Bible  describes  the  stones 
ot  the  Temple  to  have  been.  Some  of  these  had  been 
discarded  and  left  on  the  ground,  presumably  because  of 
a  discovered  flaw.  While  most  of  us  were  examining  a 


4  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

large  door  nearly  finished,  which  was  fresh  as  if  of  recent 
work,  we  were  dismayed  at  hearing  the  loud  explosion  of 
some  firearm  in  our  rear,  the  noise  of  which  reverberated 
alarmingly  through  all  the  hollows  of  the  cavern.  It 
turned  out  that  a  pistol  had  been  fired  with  extreme 
thoughtlessness  by  one  of  our  company,  "  merely  for  fun." 
How  far  it  could  be  heard  by  the  inmates  of  houses  above 
our  heads  we  never  knew,  but  although  we  could  believe 
that  they  would  be  more  afraid  than  ourselves,  we 
became  anxious  lest  our  place  of  exit  should  be  ob- 
structed. 

When  the  quarry  had  been  first  entered,  on  its 
discovery  by  a  shepherd,  the  skeleton  of  some  unfortunate 
explorer  had  been  found,  who  had  evidently  sought  the 
means  of  escape  in  vain.  After  our  exit  we  went  to 
Graham's  tower,  where  we  had  supper  and  found  sleeping 
accommodation. 

Sir  Moses  Montefiore  came  early  in  the  spring 
on  a  charitable  mission.  While  he  was  encamped 
outside  the  Jaffa  Gate  I  wrote  to  him  concerning  the 
misinterpretation  of  my  innocent  object  as  a  painter 
by  the  Jews  and  their  Rabbis,  and  I  begged  that  he 
would  explain  my  purpose,  and  induce  the  Rabbis  to 
remove  the  interdict  which  prevented  the  more  orderly 
minded  Jews  from  coming  to  me.  Mr.  Sebag  Monte- 
fiore saw  me  on  the  subject,  and  promised  attention  to 
the  question.  Mr.  Frederic  D.  Mocatta  arriving  rather 
later,  I  urged  the  point  with  him  also  ;  his  knowledge  of 
art  and  artists  enabled  him  to  understand  my  difficulties 
the  better,  so  now  I  had  improved  prospect  for  "  The 
Temple "  picture,  when  I  could  be  free  again  to  work 
on  it. 

It  had  been  a  vexation  to  me  during  its  progress  to 
have  no  opportunity  of  seeing  the  distant  slope  of  the 
northern  Olivet  from  the  platform  of  Moriah,  which  came 
into  the  background  of  the  picture.  Since  the  days  when 
Godfrey  de  Bouillon,  with  his  crusaders,  were  chased  from 
Jerusalem,  no  Christian,  except  in  disguise  or  by  stratagem, 


i  PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD         5 

at  a  risk  of  very  probable  death,  had  ever  entered  its 
precincts.  Montefiore  had  indeed  quite  recently  been 
admitted,  and  his  entrance  was  not  so  shocking  to  the 
sons  of  Ishmael  as  to  his  own  brethren.  The  Rabbis  had 
pronounced  against  the  part  which  their  benevolent  visitor 
had  taken  in  availing  himself  of  the  opportunity,  because, 
it  not  being  now  known  which  was  the  spot  covered 
by  the  Holy  of  Holies,  he,  not  being  the  High  Priest, 
might  have  offended  in  treading  on  the  proscribed 
ground.  I  had  envied  him  and  his  followers,  for  I  still 
felt  the  possibility  of  getting  in  myself  was  as  far  off  as 
ever. 

Early  in  April,  however,  the  Duke  of  Brabant,  the 
heir-apparent  of  Belgium,  arrived  in  Jerusalem,  and  it  was 
whispered  that  the  very  enlightened  and  francophile  Pasha 
of  the  day  was  making  great  efforts  to  gratify  the  Duke's 
interest  in  the  place.  The  Prince  had  been  provided  with 
a  firman  to  enter  the  Mosque  area,  yet  it  was  probable,  as 
with  many  previous  travellers  coming  from  Constantinople, 
that  His  Highness  would  be  told  it  would  be  fatal  to 
the  lives  of  all  who  attempted  to  act  on  the  Sultan's 
favour  ;  but  gossip  had  not  much  to  indulge  in,  and  soon 
it  was  said  that  the  Duke  would  be  privileged  to  enter 
the  Hareem.  I  called  on  the  Consul,  and  pleaded  that  if 
it  were  so,  the  English  residents  ought  also  to  pass  the 
sacred  gates.  He  told  me  that  this  was  generally  felt, 
and  that  he  was  watching  to  secure  the  opportunity. 
On  the  Saturday  of  the  Greek  Easter,  he  sent  me 
word  to  hold  myself  in  readiness  that  afternoon. 
Earlier  in  the  day  I  had  witnessed  the  ceremony  of 
the  Miracle  of  the  Sacred  Fire  in  the  Church  of  the 
Sepulchre. 

This  year  no  Russian  pilgrims  were  present,  yet  the 
building  was  crowded  with  strangers,  male  and  female, 
from  Greece,  Armenia,  Egypt,  and  Abyssinia  ;  in  fact,  in 
this  respect  the  occasion  was  like  the  ancient  feast  of 
Pentecost,  bringing  strangers  from  all  parts,  and  such 
resemblance  was  undoubtedly  in  mind  when  the  original 


6  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

form  of  this  ceremony  was  instituted,  for  it  is  on  record 
that  an  artificial  dove  descended  through  the  opening  of 
the  dome,  carrying  the  fire  with  it  into  the  sepulchral  shrine. 
Curzon  in  his  Monasteries  of  the  Levant  describes  his  experi- 
ences in  1834,  when  three  hundred  people  were  killed  in 
the  disorderly  crush.  Kinglake  was  there  the  next  year, 
who  treats  of  it  in  his  most  graphic  manner,  and  Dean 
Stanley  was  a  witness  of  the  scene  in  1854,  a  year  before 
my  own  visit. 

At  4  P.M.  I  presented  myself  at  the  appointed  place 
for  entrance  to  the  Mosque,  and  found  the  secretary 
nearly  alone.  The  company  increased  by  ones  and 
twos,  and  the  Pasha  had  just  counted  twenty-one  when 
our  Consul  arrived  with  a  train  of  some  thirty  English 
subjects,  clergy  with  their  wives,  and  other  ladies 
connected  with  mission  work.  Very  obvious  was  the 
bewilderment  of  the  Pasha,  but  his  politeness  was  equal  to 
the  need.  When  he  left  the  apartment  time  after  time, 
and  returned  with  no  show  of  having  advanced  matters,  I 
was  inclined  to  suspect  that  he  had  as  poor  an  estimate  as 
I  had  of  the  interest  which  the  majority  of  the  crowd  were 
likely  to  take  in  the  features  of  the  Mosque,  and  that  he 
would  therefore  consider  that  the  risk  should  not  be 
incurred,  and  that  it  might  be  wise  to  delay  action  until 
advancing  darkness  should  render  our  entrance  into  the 
sacred  place  impossible. 

During  this  time  it  transpired  that  the  Pasha  was 
intent  upon  the  success  of  a  summons  issued  to  all  the 
dervishes  of  the  Mosque  to  assemble  in  a  chamber  of 
the  Hareem  to  discuss  a  point  of  great  moment,  which 
had  to  be  considered  by  the  highest  authorities.  Thinking 
it  was  the  question  of  admitting  the  Belgian  prince  which 
had  to  be  debated,  they  thronged  into  the  building  to 
utter  their  loudest  protests.  Delays  arose  in  making 
certain  that  all  the  dervishes  were  assembled,  and  then 
the  doors  were  locked,  and  a  company  of  soldiers  posted 
outside  for  an  hour  to  turn  the  council-chamber  into  a 
prison. 


i  PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD         7 

After  this  precaution,  the  Duke  of  Brabant  and  his 
suite  advanced,  and  we  were  bidden  to  follow  ;  passing  a 
few  courts  belonging  to  the  house,  we  emerged  from  a 
dark  passage  into  the  great  area  which  includes  the  site  of 
the  ancient  Temple. 

It  was  a  moment  in  life  to  make  one's  heart  stir  as  the 
door  was  turned  on  its  hinges,  and  the  way  into  this  long- 
dreamed-of,  much-longed-for,  yet  ever-forbidden  sanctum 
was  at  last  declared  to  be  open  to  us. 

On  my  first  arrival  in  Jerusalem,  wandering  alone,  I 
had  entered  the  gates  by  mistake,  but  before  I  had 
realised  my  position  I  was  set  upon  by  one,  then  by  two 
blacks,  and  threatened  by  an  approaching  crowd  of  wild 
and  dark  Indians  and  Africans,  from  whom  I  escaped  by 
a  hasty  retreat.  Now  the  place  was  empty,  and  I  gazed 
with  boundless  delight  on  the  beautiful  combination  of 

D 

marble  architecture,  mellowed  by  the  sun  of  ages,  of 
mossy -like  cypresses,  and  Persian  slabs  of  jewel  hues  ; 
but  at  once  I  was  told  that  no  one  must  linger.  At  the 
foot  of  the  steps  we  were  ordered  to  take  off  our  boots  ; 
wearing  Turkish  shoes,  I  had  no  difficulty,  but  many 
were  unprepared  ;  and  it  was  one  of  the  grim  mockeries 
of  fate  that  at  such  a  moment  ladies  and  gentlemen 
should  intensify  the  hideousness  of  modern  costume  by 
hobbling  about  in  lacerated  stockings,  carrying  Wellington 
boots  and  fashionable  shoes  in  their  hands.  Unfortunately 
the  Royal  Duke  gave  no  sign  of  caring  for  the  wonders 
about  him  ;  he  sometimes  glanced  to  right  or  left  as  the 
guide  referred  to  different  objects,  but  never  once  did  he 
pause  from  his  swift  march  around  the  Mosque  As  Sakreh 
or  through  Al  Aksa  to  dwell  on  any  object,  nor  did  he 
turn  aside  to  examine  anything  out  of  the  direct  line  of 
the  prescribed  route;  an  Arab  in  Westminster  Abbey  would 
not  have  been  more  supremely  superior.  When  Sim  and  I 
ran  off  to  look  at  the  interior  of  the  Beautiful  Gate, 
we  were  quickly  summoned  back  by  a  messenger,  with  a 
caution  that  it  would  be  imprudent  to  go  alone,  in  the 
face  of  possible  danger  from  dervishes  who  had  evaded 


8  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

imprisonment.  We  pleaded  that  we  were  armed,  and 
would  take  the  chance,  but  the  Pasha  still  objected,  and 
we  had  to  abandon  our  hope.  I  left  with  my  curiosity 
only  increased.  On  emerging  from  the  gate  to  Via 
Dolorosa  we  saw  a  body  of  Moslems  in  the  street,  who 
glared  with  hatred  such  as  only  religious  rancour  can 
inspire,  but  they  allowed  us  to  disperse  in  peace. 

If  all  the  Christian  visitors  to  the  Mosque  that  day 
had  felt  the  respect  for  Mahomedans  which  the  sight  of 
their  reverent  conservation  had  awakened  in  me,  and  if 
the  sons  of  Hagar  assembled  at  its  doors  had  then  been 
able  to  read  the  feelings  inscribed  on  our  hearts,  their 
attitude  towards  us  would  scarcely  have  been  other  than 
brotherly  pride  in  such  hospitality  as  all  followers  of  the 
prophet  of  Mecca  are  enjoined  to  exercise.  From  the 
day  that  Abraham  met  Melchisedek,  this  spot  has  been 
the  theatre  of  events  which  have  struck  deepest  roots  in 
the  life  of  humanity.  It  has  been  the  sanctuary  where 
God's  word  had  been  proclaimed  to  Jew,  Christian,  and 
Moslem.  Had  the  Jews  still  possessed  it,  there  would 
have  been  signs  of  bloody  sacrifice.  Had  any  sect  of 
Christians  possessed  it,  the  place  would  have  been  dese- 
crated either  by  tinselled  dolls  and  tawdry  pictures,  as 
in  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre,  or  else  by  the  ugliness, 
emptiness,  and  class  vulgarity  of  the  Anglican  and 
Prussian  worship,  as  found  in  the  city  of  Jerusalem. 
In  the  case  of  the  Moslem  there  was  not  an  unsightly 
nor  a  shocking  object  in  the  whole  area,  it  was  guarded, 
fearingly  and  lovingly,  and  it  seemed  a  temple  so 
purified  from  the  pollution  of  perversity  that  involun- 
tarily the  text,  "  Here  will  I  take  my  rest  for  ever," 
rang  in  my  ears.  The  past,  so  many  pasts,  stood  about, 
even  the  very  immediate  present  was  a  mystery  and  a 
wonder  ;  it  was  an  epoch  at  least  in  a  life,  and  an  hour 
even  in  the  world's  history,  the  moving  of  the  index  to  a 
turning-point.  The  Osmanli  sands  were  running  fast,  and 
the  hour-glass  would  soon  be  turned  ;  but  I  felt  that  the 
sons  of  Hagar  had  been  appointed  for  a  great  purpose,  to 


i  PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD         9 

keep  the  place  sacred  until  the  sons  of  Sarah  should  be 
sufficiently  purified  by  long-suffering  to  take  it  again  into 
their  charge. 

But  I  had  not  attained  my  object.  I  had  not  been 
able  to  make  even  the  slightest  scribble  of  the  landscape 
for  my  picture.  I  had,  however,  gained  the  distinct 
knowledge  that  the  only  point  from  which  it  could  be 
obtained  was  the  roof  of  the  "  Mosque  of  the  Rock,"  which 
would  be  about  the  right  height  above  the  plateau  of  the 
Court  of  the  Israelites.  That  I  should  ever  be  able  to 
mount  upon  this,  unless  it  might  be  in  the  guise  of  a 
workman,  seemed  quite  out  of  hope,  and  only  Moslems 
were  employed  in  the  reparation  of  the  roof. 

Photographs  and  exhaustive  discussions  have  now 
made  familiar  to  the  world  the  startling  unlikeness  of  the 
outside  and  the  inside  of  the  Mosque  As  Sakreh.  Re- 
marking upon  the  evidence  pointing  to  its  having  once 
been  a  Christian  church,  which  its  interior  suggested  to 
me,  a  resident  in  Jerusalem  said,  "  I  see  you  are  a  convert 
to  Mr.  Fergusson's  theory."  I  had  not  then  heard  of  the 
architectural  critic's  conclusions,  drawn  from  examination 
of  drawings  made  under  extraordinary  circumstances  by 
Catherwood  and  Bonomi. 

In  May  all  the  pleasant  English  company  went  away 
together,  for  the  Consul  had  the  opportunity  of  visiting 
Gerash,  which  was  not  always  open  to  travellers,  and 
the  chance  was  eagerly  seized  by  those  who  made  that 
place  a  fresh  stage  on  their  journey.  The  tempta- 
tion was  great  for  me  to  join  them,  but  the  time  for 
my  work  was  too  precious  to  spare,  and  a  discovery  I 
had  made  did  much  to  decide  the  question  for  me.  The 
gun  which  I  had  carried  on  my  saddle,  and  which  had 
often  served  me  in  good  stead,  was  cracked  in  the  stock. 
The  opening  could  scarcely  be  seen,  and  was  not  yet  in 
danger  of  causing  disruption,  but  when  it  was  fired  the 
strain  dipped  the  barrel  enough  to  make  it  hit  low.  A 
much  more  serious  and  troubling  discovery  was,  that  the 
revolver,  on  the  efficacy  of  which  my  life  had  more  than 


io  PRE-RAPHAELIT1SM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

once  depended,  had  reverted  to  its  old  fault  of  getting  fixed 
in  the  lock.  I  put  it  by  for  a  few  days  in  order  to  take 
it  myself  to  the  ill-fated  Frederic,  but  circumstances  had 
hindered  me  from  getting  to  his  shop  before  it  was  closed 
for  the  evening.  When  supper  was  over  I  therefore 
called  my  landlord  and  said,  "  I  want  you  to  go  to  Frederic 
and  deliver  my  pistol  ;  explain  to  him  yourself  that  it  is 
loaded  and  cannot  be  fired  off  because  of  the  defect  for 
which  I  first  sent  it  to  him.  He  returned  it  repaired, 
but  with  the  spring  so  weak  that  it  only  occasionally 
exploded.  He  must  now  put  it  into  proper  working 
condition  at  any  cost,  for  a  pistol  that  cannot  be  trusted 
is  worse  than  useless.  Explain  that  I  know  he  is  clever, 
and  quite  capable  of  curing  the  fault." 

My  landlord  was  a  philosopher  who  at  all  times  strove 
to  enforce  consideration  for  the  weaknesses  of  others. 
"  Veil,  veil,  yas  !  ve  most  'ave  patience.  Frederic,  poor 
fellaw  !  he  unhappy.  I  go  to  Frederic,  I  say,  vy  for  you 
not  marry,  plenty  nice  gals  'ere  now,  you  are  von  ov  us,  you 
av  goot  busness,  vy  not  take  vife.  Vot "  -  and  here  he 
shrugged  his  shoulders  commiseratingly — "  'e  say,  '  I  stay 
'ere  only  to  die  like  my  vrent  die,  an'  den  wot  my  vife 
do?'  He  tocht  in  'ed,  pooh  fellaw!"  "I  know,  I 
know,  Max,  but  mind  you  give  him  my  message,  and 
take  care  that  no  one  touches  the  pistol  but  yourself, 
till  you  deliver  it  into  his  hands  with  the  caution  that  it 
is  loaded,"  said  I. 

The  next  morning  Max,  who  was  as  conscientious 
as  he  was  proud  of  his  proficiency  in  English,  assured  me 
he  had  acquitted  himself  of  his  commission  scrupulously. 
He  said  Frederic  had  listened  attentively,  and  pleaded  that 
before  the  spring  was  too  slack,  now  too  tight  ;  there 
ought  to  be  a  new  strong  one,  but  he  had  not  liked  to 
put  me  to  the  expense  of  this  before,  now  he  would  spare 
no  pains.  He  was  too  busy  for  a  day  or  two  to  attend  to 
it,  however,  and  would  not  take  it  in  hand  until  he  could 
finish  it  properly. 

"  Ah,"  said  Max,  "  he  quite  mad,  poor  fellaw  !   'e  'ang 


r          PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD        u 

id  op,  bak  shob  "  ;  by  which  I  understood  that  he  had  put 
it  safely  by  for  the  present. 

On  a  previous  Sunday  there  had  been  an  overflow  of 
water  at  Beir  Yoab,  and  all  the  people  of  Jerusalem  had 
gone  out  to  see  it,  some  with  keen  enthusiasm  because  it 
seemed  like  the  return  of  the  promised  early  rain  which 
they  said  had  been  withheld  since  the  destruction  of  the 
Temple.  I  walked  with  Dr.  Sim  in  the  midst  of  the  throng, 
and  we  met  Frederic  all  alone  at  St.  Stephen's  Gate  ;  he 
smiled  pleasantly  but  sadly  to  our  salutation.  We  knew 
no  German  and  he  knew  no  English,  so  we  exchanged  a 
few  words  in  Arabic  and  separated. 

The  evening  after  my  message  to  Frederic,  I  called  on 
Sim  to  choose  the  wild  goat's  skull  for  my  picture  ;  he  had 
a  large  collection  of  such  things.  He  told  me  that  he  had 
just  come  back  from  seeing  poor  Frederic,  who  had  been 
shot  by  his  apprentice  in  his  own  shop  !  Sim  had  extracted 
the  bullet,  which  was  just  under  the  cellular  tissue,  opposite 
to  the  point  where  it  had  entered.  He  hoped  from  the 
small  size  of  the  bullet  that  it  had  not  traversed  the  body, 
but  travelled  round  as  bullets  partly  spent  occasionally  do. 
The  wound  could  not  be  further  examined,  and  it  was 
desirable  to  leave  the  patient  undisturbed.  Frederic,  it 
seemed,  had  been  working  at  an  anvil  in  the  front  of  the 
shop,  the  apprentice  came  in,  while  the  master,  who  was 
steadily  filing,  became  apprehensive  that  the  fool  was  at 
some  mischief,  and  turning  quickly,  said,  "  You  are  not 
touching  that  loaded  pistol  ? "  The  boy  in  his  fright 
nervously  pulled  the  trigger,  and  the  bullet  struck  the 
master  in  the  side.  He  fell  down  on  the  floor,  the 
noise  attracted  a  crowd,  who  came  in  and  surrounded  him. 
He  groaned,  "  Ah,  I  am  paid  now.  I  knew  it  would 
come  to  this."  Waving  the  people  aside,  he  cried,  "  I 
am  going  away  to  die,"  and  jumped  up  to  run  through 
the  street  up  a  steep  lane  into  the  door  of  the  German 
Hospice,  where  he  threw  himself  on  to  a  bed,  and  there 
the  doctor  had  seen  him. 

From  Sim's  favourable  opinion  I  encouraged  the  idea 


12  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

that  the  man  was  not  wounded  to  death  ;  but  on  the 
morrow — fourteen  months  after  the  death  ot  his  friend 
— the  lot  had  fallen  upon  him  also. 

It  was  my  accursed  revolver  that  had  brought  about 
this  dire  tragedy.  I  tell  such  stories  not  in  support  of 
any  theory,  but  because  they  claim  record  as  strange 
personal  experience.  There  are  people  in  Jerusalem  now 
who  remember  Frederic  with  sorrow,  and  who  wonder  what 
became  of  the  loved  maiden  in  Germany  who  was  to  have 
been  his  wife. 

Although  the  Exhibition  date  was  past,  I  was  work- 
ing hard  to  finish  "The  Scapegoat"  and  send  it  away 
to  Mr.  Combe.  I  trusted  that  possibly  among  the 
patrons  of  art  who  had  expressed  a  wish  to  have  some 
picture  of  mine  one  might  be  found  to  purchase  it,  and  so 
make  me  more  at  ease  and  free  to  prolong  my  stay  ;  in 
any  case,  it  would  relieve  the  dejection  I  often  felt  at  having 
brought  none  of  my  works  to  completion.  My  time  was, 
however,  seriously  taxed  in  consequence  of  a  contention 
I  was  drawn  into  with  the  Bishop  about  the  character  of 
one  of  the  Arab  converts.  I  will  say  no  more  on  this 
subject,  but  should  any  wish  to  know  of  the  business,  they 
may  learn  all  particulars  from  a  pamphlet  which  I  published 
after  my  return  to  England.1  Yet,  lest  the  story  should 
be  taken  as  a  proof  that  I  look  with  any  feeling  of  dis- 
respect upon  English  Missions,  let  me  say  that  the  circum- 
stances were  altogether  exceptional. 

Early  in  the  summer  of  this  year  two  regiments  of 
soldiers  were  sent  up  to  quell  disturbances  caused  by  the 
fellahin.  It  was  not  alone  the  outbreak  against  the  govern- 
ment near  Hebron,  of  which,  at  the  request  of  the 
Consul,  I  had  made  a  report,  but  in  the  western  hills  in 
the  neighbourhood  of  Betir  the  sheiks  were  fighting  for 
the  mere  pleasure  of  fighting  and  delight  in  bloodshed, 
and  one  indeed  deservedly  acquired  for  his  cruelty  the 
name  of  "butcher."  The  newly  arrived  soldiers  were 
encamped  upon  the  slopes  of  the  Pool  of  Gihon,  and  thus 

1    Bishop  Go!>at,  in  re  Hannah  Hadoob.      Masters,  New  Bond  Street. 


i  PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       13 

it  seemed  as  though  indirect  pressure  alone  was  to  be  used 
against  the  fellahin  ;  travellers  were,  under  this  military 
influence,  enabled  to  use  the  roads  in  greater  safety  ; 
perhaps  it  was  this  that  brought  the  Prussian  Quarantine 
doctor  from  Hebron  to  Jerusalem.  Seeing  him  riding 
with  the  Prussian  Consul  as  I  was  going  out  of  the  Jaffa 
Gate  to  enjoy  the  evening  air  after  a  fatiguing  day's 
painting,  it  seemed  to  me  that  he  had  not  seen  me,  so 
I  deferred  accosting  him.  It  was  a  mistake  which  I  often 
regretted  later,  for  on  the  morrow  he  had  returned  home, 
and  in  a  few  weeks  he  committed  suicide. 

The  soldiers  after  a  month's  encampment  removed 
for  a  few  weeks  to  the  Pools  of  Solomon  ;  and,  when 
the  fellahin  were  quite  off  their  guard  one  night,  they 
struck  their  tents,  and  surprised  the  insurgent  villages 
about  Hebron,  slaughtering  and  burning  to  the  content 
of  the  Ottoman  heart. 

I  had  no  contribution  at  the  Academy  Exhibition, 
and  I  had  told  my  English  correspondents  that  I  might 
suddenly  give  up  further  attempts  in  Syria  and  return,  but 
I  had  a  great  desire  to  know  of  the  treatment  of  our 
School  this  year,  thinking  that  the  election  of  Millais 
might  be  a  mark  of  more  favourable  feeling.  A  letter 

D  O 

from  him  enlightened  me  painfully  on  this  point  ;  a  few 
extracts  will  explain  the  disillusion.  It  also  gives  some 
reference  to  his  approaching  marriage. 


LANGHAM   CHAMBERS,  LANGHAM   PLACE, 

LONDON,  May  22,  1855. 

MY  DEAR  OLD  FRIEND — All  the  hurry  and  excitement  of  the 
R.A.  is  over,  and  yet  I  find  myself  delaying  until  it  is  absolutely 
necessary  that  I  should  tell  vou  first  that  next  month,  please  God, 
I  shall  be  a  married  man.  What  think  you  of  this  r  You  must 
have  partly  expected  this,  and  will  not  be  knocked  down  by  this 
sudden  announcement.  I  have  let  the  time  slip  by  me  so  fast  that 
I  am  at  a  loss  what  to  tell  you  first.  ...  I  have  gone  so  far  as  to 
take  a  place  near  her  family  at  Perth  for  the  autumn,  and  I  leave 
this  in  a  fortnight's  time,  when  to  return  I  don't  know.  .  .  .  Lear 
has  been  here  just  this  moment  tellino;  me  of  vour  letter  he  has 


i4  PRE-RAPHAELIT1SM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

received.  Collins  also  received  one.  When  you  come  back,  you 
must  come  and  see  me.  I  am  afraid  I  shall  not  be  in  London  to 
receive  you  when  you  arrive.  .  .  .  Apropos  of  work,  my  picture 
("  The  Fireman  "  )  this  year  has  been  blackguarded  more  than  ever  ; 
altogether  the  cabal  is  stronger  than  ever  against  every  good  thing — 
such  injustice  and  felonious  abomination  has  never  been  known 

before.     Fancy  A ,  B ,  and  old  Satyr  C —   —  as  hangers. 

Collins  above  the  line  in  the  Octagon,  Martineau  at  the  top  of  the 
Architectural  .  .  .  my  picture  against  the  door  of  the  middle 
room.  The  very  mentioning  of  these  disgraceful  facts  incenses  me 
so  that  I  begin  to  tremble.  I  almost  dropped  down  in  a  fit  from 
rage  in  a  row  I  had  with  the  three  hangers,  in  which  I  forgot  all 
restraint  and  shook  my  fist  in  their  faces,  calling  them  every  con- 
ceivable name  of  abuse.  It  is  too  long  a  story  to  relate  now,  but 
they  wanted  to  lift  my  picture  up,  after  I  had  got  permission  to 
have  it  lowered  three  inches,  and  tilted  forward  so  that  it  might  be 
seen,  which  was  hardly  the  case  as  it  was  first  hung.  Oh  !  they  are 
felons-1— no  better  than  many  a  tethered  convict — so  let  them  pass. 
The  Exhibition  you  will  see,  so  there  is  no  need  of  any  mention  of 
it.  William  I  never  see  scarcely,  as  he  lives  down  at  Kingston.  I  am 
going  to  be  married  so  quietly  that  none  of  my  family  come  to  the 
wedding.  Good  gracious,  fancy  me  married,  my  old  boy.  ...  It  is 
quite  impossible  to  forsee  the  end  of  anything  we  undertake. 
Every  day  I  see  greater  reason  to  be  tolerant  in  judging  others. 
We  cannot  reckon  upon  ourselves  for  the  safe  guidance  of  a  single 
project.  But  I  must  not  fill  this  letter  with  truisms.  I  am  very 
anxious  about  this  change  in  my  life,  as  you  may  imagine,  therefore 
you  must  forgive  me  if  this  letter  is  full  of  it.  ...  If  I  omit  to 
tell  you  anything  of  interest  you  may  afterwards  find  out,  it  will 
be  from  forgetfulness.  .  .  .  Wilkie  Collins  is  here  and  sends 
greeting.  To-morrow  is  the  Derby  Day.  Last  Epsom  I  went 
too,  we  went  together  with  Mike — you  remember.  .  .  .  You 
must  prav  for  me,  my  dear  old  friend.  ...  I  feel  the  want  of  you 
more  than  ever,  and  art  wants  you  home  ;  it  is  impossible  to  fight 
single-handed,  and  the  R.A.  is  too  great  a  consideration  to  lose 
sight  of,  with  all  its  position,  with  the  public  wealth  and  ability  to 
help  good  art.  When  Lady  Chantrey  dies,  the  Academy  will 
have  funds  at  its  disposal  for  the  purchase  yearly  of  the  best  living 
works,  and  all  this  should  be  in  our  hands.  In  my  contest  with 
the  hangers  I  said  I  would  give  up  my  associateship  if  they  dared 
to  move  my  picture,  which  so  frightened  them,  I  suppose,  that  they 
didn't  touch  it  afterwards.  /  want  you  back  again  to  talk  over  this 
matter  of  Exhibition.  I  am  almost  indifferent  about  these  things 
now,  and  yet  I  think  it  a  duty,  for  other  poor  fellows  like  Brown 


i  PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD        15 

(whose  three  pictures  were  rejected),  Anthony,  Seddon  were  turned 
out  also. — Ever  affectionately  yours, 

JOHN  EVERETT  MILLAIS. 

Miss  Mary  Rogers  had  come  to  Jerusalem  with  her 
brother,  the  future  Consul  of  Damascus,  and  she  gave 
me  the  London  art  news.  One  most  important  item  was 
the  appearance  of  a  new  artist,  with  a  large  picture 
representing  the  procession  of  Cimabue's  pictures  through 
the  streets  of  Florence.  The  artist's  name  was  Leighton, 
and  the  work  was  strikingly  admirable,  independent  of 
the  fact  that  it  was  his  first  exhibited  original  composi- 
tion ;  his  father  had  allowed  him  to  paint  it  on  condition 
that  if  not  successful  he  should  finally  relinquish  art. 
This  picture  was  in  great  favour  with  artists,  and  the 
Queen  secured  the  young  painter's  future  success  by 
buying  it  for  £500. 

While  I  was  completing  my  picture  of  "  The  Scape- 
goat," for  the  first  time  in  the  history  of  Turkish  rule 
cannons  were  fired  for  a  Christian  monarch,  on  the 
24th  of  May,  Queen  Victoria's  birthday.  The  European 
ladies,  hearing  that  my  picture  would  soon  be  sent  to 
England,  now  came  in  little  groups  to  see  it.  One  of 
these  expressed  a  strong  wish  that  some  sound  and  practical 
landscape  painter  could  come  and  help  me  with  wise 
counsel  as  to  the  finishing  of  it.  Afterwards  I  heard 
that  her  commiseration  had  been  stimulated  by  the  per- 
usal of  an  article  in  a  London  paper  brought  to  her  by  a 
neighbour,  wherein  I  was  held  up  as  a  proverb  of  artistic 
extravagance.  On  I5th  June  the  work  was  finished,  and 
put  into  its  case.  I  rose  early,  and  Sim,  Graham,  and  I 
sallied  out  of  the  Jaffa  Gate  at  4.30  A.M.  Sim,  after  two 
years'  service  in  the  Mission,  was  leaving  and  going  as 
army  surgeon  to  the  Crimea.  He  had  made  himself 
deeply  loved  and  valued,  and  many  of  the  grateful  people 
accompanied  us  a  mile  or  two  on  the  road  to  take  leave  of 
him.  I  went  to  Jaffa  with  paint-box  packed  up,  so  that 
if  I  saw  need,  I  might  put  further  finishing  touches  on 


1 6  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  i 

the  picture  before  shipping  it.  The  ride  was  delightful. 
Graham  lent  me  his  clever  rhowam-paced  pony,  and  Sim 
had  an  Arab  which  he  was  taking  with  him  by  sea,  and  as 
the  third  of  our  party  was  well  mounted,  we  careered  across 
the  cornfields,  many  of  which  were  cut,  while  others  were 
being  reaped.  The  trusty  Issa  meanwhile  could  be  left 
with  the  baggage.  It  was  high  time  I  had  such  change, 
for  I  was  far  from  well.  The  rest  of  two  hours  at  the 
Ramla  Convent  with  the  cheery  old  monks  delighted  our 
hearts.  We  arrived  at  Jaffa  in  the  afternoon,  when  all 
seemed  careless  peace  with  the  retiring  sun,  and  as  I,  with 
the  Consul's  help,  passed  my  picture  through  the  customs' 
and  took  it  on  board,  I  felt  cut  off  from  the  cause  of 
many  galling  anxieties,  and  trusted  future  issues  to  gentle 
Providence. 

I  had  intended  to  stay  with  Graham  a  few  days  at  the 
seaport,  but  the  next  afternoon  Issa,  his  servant,  who  was 
deeply  concerned  in  the  proceedings  conducted  by  the 
Bishop  to  which  I  have  lately  referred,  came  to  me  with 
news  gained  from  later  arrivals  that  caused  him  deep 
concern,  and  I  offered  to  ride  back  to  Jerusalem  with  him 
in  the  night,  which  he  eagerly  accepted.  On  my  return 
I  sat  down  before  my  "  Temple  "  picture  to  take  stock  of 
its  condition  and  of  my  prospects,  improved  by  the  inter- 
mediation of  my  friendly  Hebrew  advocates,  Sir  Moses 
Montefiore  and  F.  D.  Mocatta,  and  at  once  took  steps 
to  recommence  work.  I  felt  it  wise,  until  I  could  gain 
these  advantages,  to  apply  myself  to  painting  those  parts 
of  "  The  Lantern  Maker's  Courtship  "  which  I  had  not 
completed  in  Cairo. 

Graham  soon  returned  from  Jaffa  with  health  restored, 
and  I  frequently  accepted  his  invitation  in  the  hot  summer 
to  sleep  in  the  refreshing  air  on  Olivet.  The  window  of 
this  tower  overlooked  the  valley  of  Jehoshaphat,  Geth- 
semane,  and  all  the  slopes  of  the  city,  and  a  good  tele- 
scope was  mounted  on  the  sill.  On  moonlight  nights, 
while  my  friend  read  aloud  a  kind  of  literature  for 
which  I  cared  little,  I  could  sit  at  the  open  window 


VOL.    II 


THE    LANTERN    MAKERS    COURTSHIP. 


1 8  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

resting  my  brow  against  its  cool  lintel,  and  turn  my  eyes 
upon  the  traces  left  by  the  successive  masters  of  the 
city  since  the  days  of  Solomon,  and  upon  the  land  so 
little  changed  since  its  history  was  first  written  upon  it. 

No  scene  on  earth  could  offer  more  for  reflection. 
Many  elements  were  wanting  to  satisfy  the  fullest 
sense  of  beauty,  yet  there  was  a  solemn  silence  ex- 
tending throughout  the  region,  with  centres  of  mystic 
suggestion  that  enchanted  the  eye,  while  the  mind  was 
enthralled  by  the  thought  that  this  spot  had  been  the 
standing-place  from  which  in  turn  the  leading  nations 
of  the  world  had  been  addressed  as  from  heaven  itself. 
Walls,  towers,  domes,  minarets,  and  vacant  spaces  in  suc- 
cession made  my  regard  wander  across  the  wide  prospect, 
and  in  and  out  of  its  intricate  features.  Lying  there 
under  full  moonlight,  the  calm  picture  appeared  as 
formed  in  mother-of-pearl,  with  rare  points  glinting 
among  the  opalescent  hues.  There  were  no  street 
lamps  in  any  part  of  the  town  ;  all  the  bazaars  were 
closed.  Most  good  men  were  in  their  homes.  Open 
casements  revealed  inner  lights  with  families  sitting 
at  their  last  meal  of  the  day  ;  and  elsewhere  through 
perforated  walls  could  be  seen  small  companies  on  the 
roofs  enjoying  the  cool  night.  Towering  above  the  houses 
were  the  crowns  of  palm  trees  distributed  among  the 
courtyards  inside  the  protecting  walls.  Afar,  high  up, 
nearly  screened  by  buildings,  were  the  Armenian  gardens 
occupying  the  locality  of  Herod's  Park  and  of  the  house 
of  the  High  Priest,  and  there  still  slept  a  group  of  huge 
fir  trees,  one  of  which  spread  its  sheltering  branches 
around  a  delicate  arboreal  spire  of  cypress.  Groves 
of  olives  were  on  southern  Zion,  and  to  the  north  of  the 
walls  was  another  plantation,  amidst  which  was  a  massive 
sycamore  near  to  a  tower  with  weird  associations.  These 
sombre  trees  mapped  out  the  blanched  limestone  buildings 
and  surfaces  into  intelligible  forms  and  helped  to  frame 
the  ancient  ramparts.  The  cupola  of  the  Church  of  the 
Sepulchre  with  the  adjoining  tower  stood  in  the  heart  of 


i          PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD        19 

the  city  ;  wild  growths  spread  over  deserted  spots, 
the  remains  of  fallen  buildings  whose  foundations 
were  buried  in  their  own  ruins.  The  south-eastern 
corner  of  the  square  of  the  city  was  the  Temple  en- 
closure, whose  history  we  know  more  continuously  than 
that  of  any  place  on  earth.  Marble,  alabaster,  Persian 
tiles,  and  forms  of  early  Byzantine  design  were  beautified 
by  the  contrast  of  vegetation,  deep  and  rich,  fed  by 
hidden  waters  at  their  roots.  There  the  stately  cypresses 
whispered  together.  The  structures  known  as  "  The 
Dome  of  the  Rock "  and  Al  Aksa  divided  the  mind 
as  to  the  site  of  the  Holy  of  Holies,  for  the  dimensions 
of  the  ancient  Temple  area  were  not  enough  to  include 
both  buildings.  As  though  patiently  sleeping,  they 
rested  like  palled  shapes  in  a  heavy  dream,  detached  by 
moonlight  and  moonshade.  Although  the  platform 
was  an  open  stage  from  which  the  actors  had  departed, 
yet  fancy  would  people  it  with  their  spirits.  Prophets 
and  fore-doomed  martyrs  stood  arraigned  there,  deliver- 
ing a  direful  message  from  heaven.  With  tardy 
repentance  more  pitiful,  were  those  haunting  the  scene 
for  mourned  over  memories  of  crimes  towards  the 
innocent  ;  among  them  those  who  bewailed  their  bitter- 
ness towards  the  Son  of  Love  Himself,  for  Gabatha 
lay  there. 

Beyond  this  enclosure  I  was  attracted  by  the  moving 
lantern  of  a  cautious  wayfarer  ;  the  flame  taxed  the 
sight  as  it  hovered  along,  a  very  will-o'-the-wisp, 
through  antiquated  arches,  threading  receding  streets, 
being  blotted  out  now  for  a  few  seconds,  now  for  a 
longer  term,  and  anon  as  suddenly  revealed.  Occasion- 
ally home -seekers  emerged  from  a  door  and  stood 
still  with  a  cluster  of  lights  before  taking  leave  of 
one  another,  and  then  they  diverged  and  crept  along 
different  lines  like  the  sparks  on  unextinguished  tinder, 
reminding  me  of  what  I  had  watched  entranced  in 
childhood  and  called  "  Quakers  going  home  from  meet- 
ing "  •  there  was  fascination  in  the  tracing  of  these 

O  7  O 


20  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

wandering  lanterns.  One  bewitching  jewel  of  light 
became  to  me  a  cherished  possession,  to  be  guarded 
with  fear  of  its  loss  as  it  came  nearer  and  disappeared 
within  the  belt  of  the  hareem  enclosure,  and  I  seemed 
the  poorer  at  its  loss  ;  but  it  was  not  long  before  it 
appeared  again  within  the  sacred  square  itself,  where  in 
passing  it  gilded  marble  pillars  and  elaborated  carvings, 
and  flared  upon  capitals,  architraves,  and  arches,  until 
it  halted  at  the  door  of  the  minaret.  In  a  few  minutes 
appeared  the  flutter  of  the  same  light  in  the  gallery 
above,  and  when  the  lantern  was  put  down,  I  knew 
another  dear  sign  of  life  was  to  break  out.  The 
caller  to  prayer,  with  hands  on  the  parapet  towards  our 
quarter,  began  his  chant  with  a  voice  like  a  resonant  bell 
across  the  homes  of  hidden  men  who  at  the  sound  bent 
in  prayer  and  praise.  The  voice  lingered  and  soared 
aloft  ;  it  was  the  chant  of  the  "  Kuteb  Mueddin,"  declaring 
itself  emphatically  in  every  fresh  outburst,  warbling, 
carolling,  and  exclaiming  with  ecstasy,  till  it  expressed 
the  fulness  of  thanksgiving  and  joy.  It  awakened  the 
rapture  with  which  I  had  heard  the  nightingale  thrilling  in 
his  listening  copse,  and  the  dream  grew  dearer  to  my  heart 
that  the  time  was  coming  when  there  could  be  no  soul  on 
earth  not  altogether  at  peace  with  the  Father  of  Love. 
The  singer  turned  in  his  gallery  to  awaken  sleepers  in  the 
south,  the  west,  the  north,  and  then  again  in  the  full 
east.  From  a  further  tower  a  second  psalmist  responded, 
increasing  his  voice,  and  there  echoed  around  a  refrain  of 
melody,  a  strophe,  and  antistrophe,  and  as  the  chant 
swelled  a  fuller  height  of  rhapsody  was  attained  ;  then  by 
intervals  the  exalted  strain  slowly  descended  into  a  tender 
chorus  and  ceased,  when  the  very  deadness  vibrated,  con- 
soling the  yet  unsatisfied  and  listening  ears.  Then  all 
signs  of  restlessness  took  flight,  the  lights  in  turn  became 
extinct,  and  the  whole  mountain  of  men,  women,  and 
children  were  at  hush  and  rest,  with  nothing  but  the 
sound  of  barking  dogs  and  screeches  of  marauding  beasts 
of  prey  to  be  heard. 


i          PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       21 

Turning  my  attention  from  the  window,  I  heard 
Graham's  enthusiastic  droning  as  before,  and  when 
it  closed  my  good  friend  asked  if  I  had  ever  heard 
such  an  eloquent  sermon,  and  I  felt  able  to  say 
"  Never  !  " 


CHAPTER    II 

1855 

Making  the  word  of  God  of  none  effect  through  your  tradition. 

Falsehood  is  so  vile  that  if  it  spoke  of  God  it  would  take  something 
from  the  grace  of  His  divinity,  while  truth  is  so  excellent  that  when 
applied  to  the  smallest  things  it  makes  them  noble. — RICHTER. 

RETURNING  to  my  work,  the  suppression  of  the  interdict 
of  the  Rabbis  facilitated  my  appeals  to  the  better  class  of 
Jews,  and  though  some  of  the  men  whom  I  now  approached 
were  of  very  humble  means,  they  bore  themselves  with 
unaffected  dignity.  The  old  fellow  with  divided  beard 
painted  in  my  picture  was  one  of  heaven's  own  noblemen. 
He  supported  himself  by  the  profits  of  a  little  chandlery 
business  ;  all  the  day  he  squatted  cross-legged  on  his  board 
in  front  of  a  cupboard  with  his  wares ;  spices,  coffee,  sugar, 
arranged  around  him  within  easy  reach,  he  had  numerous 
customers  who  purchased  small  supplies  at  a  time.  On  the 
Sabbath  I  always  saw  him  at  the  Synagogue,  and  I  learned 
that  he  was  a  rabbi,  by  his  independent  industry  the 
better  representing  the  celebrated  doctors  of  Hillel's  days. 
When  I  applied  to  him  to  sit,  he  explained  that,  having 
no  relative  or  friend  to  carry  on  the  business  if  he  were 
away  the  shop  would  have  to  be  shut  up,  and  that  the  loss 
would  be  continued  after  he  had  reopened  it,  from  the 
habit  his  customers  would  contract  of  dealing  elsewhere  ; 
but  my  terms  tempted  him.  The  bargain  was  that  he 
should  have  four  francs  paid  to  him  in  the  evening  of  each 


'//.<• 


CH.  ii    PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     23 

day,  and  that  three  more  should  be  written  up  to  his 
account,  to  be  paid  when  I  had  completed  the  work,  but 
this  only  if  he  had  been  punctual.  He  was  always  attentive 
and  regular,  and  never  expressed  any  doubt  that  I  could 
be  trusted  for  the  final  conditional  sum.  Men  are  slow 
to  believe  others  to  be  different  to  themselves  in  honesty. 
I  am  glad  to  record  this  case  as  one  of  many  I  have 
met  with  to  the  credit  of  the  Israelites.  To  prove  the 
sincerity  of  some  Jewish  conversion,  and  its  fitness  for  such 
men,  a  story  known  to  me  of  actors  still  living  in  1854 
is  sufficient.  In  the  year  1836  two  Jews  of  unstable 
character  had  entered  into  partnership  in  a  grocery 
business.  They  purchased  a  small  stock  of  coffee  and  stored 
it  in  their  dark  shop.  They  indulged  in  stronger  drink 
than  that  which  their  customers  brewed,  and  in  their  cups 
they  quarrelled.  The  division  of  the  joint  property  was  a 
difficulty  which  no  one  of  their  friends  could  arrange,  until 
they  remembered  a  poor  fellow-descendant  of  Judah  who 
had  been  converted  to  Christianity  and  yet  had  the  esteem 
of  all  the  Jews.  He  was  the  same  Caiman  who  kindly 
assisted  me  later,  and  never  did  I  know  man  who  was 
more  thoroughly  without  guile.  He  possessed  an  annuity 
of  ^50,  and  with  this  he  had  sought  a  post  on  the  Mission  in 
Jerusalem  for  which  he  refused  payment,  and  was  appointed, 
while  still  young,  keeper  of  the  Hospital  where  the  invalid 
Jews  were  nursed.  The  hostile  partners  induced  him  to 
take  charge  of  the  key  of  their  shop  until  their  quarrel 
should  be  settled.  When  he  was  thus  satisfying  each  that 
the  other  was  not  robbing  him,  a  violent  storm  occurred  ; 
the  wranglers  knew  that  the  shop  roof  was  defective,  and 
went  to  Caiman,  the  custodian,  to  come  with  them  and 
see  that  the  coffee  was  not  injured. 

It  proved  to  have  been  thoroughly  soaked.  They  both 
declared  themselves  to  be  outraged,  and  contended  that, 
being  the  guardian  of  their  property,  Caiman  was  re- 
sponsible, and  that  he  should  pay  the  value  to  them. 
After  some  vain  appeals  to  their  reason,  and  their  assumed 
sense  of  justice,  he  paid  the  demand,  principally  perhaps 


24  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

because  he  knew  their  poverty,  and  the  coffee  was  worthless. 
At  this  time  Ibrahim  Pasha  was  invading  the  country, 
and  soon  he  invested  Jerusalem.  During  the  siege 
Caiman  heard  that  coffee  was  well-nigh  exhausted  in  the 
city,  and  any  variety  of  it  was  selling  at  famine  prices. 
He  brought  out  his  bags  and  spread  the  contents  in  the 
sun,  and  the  coffee  proving  to  be  but  little  hurt  by  the 
wetting,  he  sold  it  at  a  high  price,  which  he  took  no  pains 
to  keep  secret  ;  indeed,  he  instanced  it  as  an  example  of 
how  he  had  gained  by  returning  good  for  evil. 

At  this  point,  to  his  astonishment,  the  two  grocers  again 
appeared  in  mutual  accord,  stating  that  they  knew  that  he 
had  made  a  very  great  profit  on  their  coffee,  which  Caiman 
at  once  admitted.  Then  said  they,  "You  must  pay  us  the 
additional  money  for  our  coffee,  for  which  you  yourself 
admit  you  have  yet  only  given  us  a  quarter  price."  He 
urged  that  this  demand  to  him  seemed  very  unjust.  "  Oh 
no,"  they  screamed,  "  you  would  be  robbing  us  if  you  did 
not  give  us  the  extra  money."  "  If  you  declare  this 
seriously  and  solemnly  I  will  not  keep  it,"  he  said. 
"We  do;  we  do!"  they  shouted,  and  they  went  off 
with  their  booty,  glorying  in  their  superior  cunning. 

"  What  a  fool  that  Caiman  is  !  and  what  stupidity  his 
religion  is  !  "  said  one  to  the  other  when  on  their  way  to 
the  nearest  drinking  house.  "  Yes,"  said  the  other,  "  he  is 
a  fool,  and  it  is  his  religion  that  makes  him  so,  but  what 
a  religion  it  must  be  to  make  a  man  cast  away  all  selfish 
interest  as  he  does."  Drunkards  and  schemers  though 
they  were  by  long  habit,  in  embracing  Christianity  they 
came  under  influences  which  perhaps  rendered  them  more 
promising  men. 

There  was  a  good,  honest,  and  intelligent  convert  head- 
ing a  band  of  Baptists  who  helped  me  in  securing  as  a 
sitter  a  Jew  of  middle  age  who  kept  a  mercer's  shop. 
Observing  the  latter  for  some  time,  I  discovered  that  he 
spoke  only  Polish,  in  which  I  was  helpless.  My  friend 
thereupon  came  with  me  to  the  shop,  which  was  a  com- 
paratively prosperous  one,  and  after  getting  into  general 


ii         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       25 

conversation  he  adroitly  introduced  me  as  the  English- 
man who  was  painting  a  picture  of  Jewish  Rabbis,  and 
who  would  pay  well  if  he  would  come  and  sit  to  me. 
The  mercer  very  naturally  urged,  like  the  rest,  that  it 
would  not  be  to  his  interest  to  shut  up  shop  except  for 
large  remuneration,  but  when  it  was  explained  that  I  should 
want  him  for  seven  or  eight  days,  that  each  evening  he 
should  receive  four  francs,  and  that  three  francs  additional 
should  be  written  up  to  his  account  towards  a  sum  to  be 


STUDY    OF    J£\V 


paid  at  the  end  if  he  had  always  been  punctual,  he  finally 
promised  to  come  to  me  the  next  day. 

I  waited,  at  the  hour  appointed,  with  all  prepared  for 
my  new  figure,  till,  patience  exhausted,  I  went  straight  to 
the  shop,  then  to  the  Synagogue.  Failing  to  find  the 
mercer  in  either  place,  I  enlisted  my  friend  in  the  search. 
Most  of  the  day  was  spent  before  we  found  him,  and 
then  he  urged  that  although  the  pay  for  the  time  was 
liberal,  it  was  not  enough  to  cover  the  Joss  of  custom  that 
would  occur  afterwards,  and  I  had  to  agree  to  add  £2 


26  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

to  the  final  payment  if  he  would  make  no  more  delay  and 
come  the  next  morning.  To  this  he  agreed,  apparently 
with  great  contentment. 

On  the  morrow  again  I  waited  with  palette  in  hand 
for  an  hour  or  so,  but  all  in  vain.  This  time  I  determined 
to  have  a  satisfactory  explanation,  or  to  give  up  the  model 
finally  if  he  failed  me  further,  and  I  went  with  my  friendly 
interpreter. 

The  mercer,  on  being  asked  to  account  for  his 
failure,  was  somewhat  reticent,  until  we  urged  him 
to  tell  us  plainly  if  he  thought  it  a  sin  to  aid  in  the 
making  of  a  picture.  Finding  him  still  shy,  I  pointed 
out  that  in  the  Tabernacle  and  in  the  Israelitish  camp 
and  in  Solomon's  Temple  also  there  were  animal  figures 
represented  as  symbols  of  the  various  tribes,  and  I  argued 
further  that  the  Second  Commandment  did  not  mean 
more  than  that  the  images  should  not  be  made  for 
worship  in  the  first  Temple.  "  Oh  yes  !  "  he  said  in 
a  tone  that  meant  we  had  been  arguing  quite  needlessly, 
"  I  am  a  rabbi  myself,  and  I  have  considered  the  question, 
and  I  know  it  is  no  sin  ;  but  it  might  be  very  imprudent, 
very  rash  indeed,  and  I  might  suffer  for  that,"  and,  turn- 
ing with  a  confiding  air,  he  went  into  a  long  explanation 
with  my  friend,  who  carried  an  amused  expression  on 
his  face.  Now  I  observed  an  extra  play  of  suppressed 
mirth,  and  this  fact,  with  the  understanding  of  a  few 
words  common  to  all  languages,  made  me  anxious  to 
hear  the  interpretation,  which  my  friend  gave  with  great 
solemnity.  "  Well,  you  know  the  merchant's  name  is 
Daoud  Levi.  On  the  Day  of  Judgment  the  Archangel 
Michael  will  be  standing  at  the  gate  of  heaven,  and  the 
names  of  all  faithful  children  of  Abraham  will  be  called 
out  ;  there  will  be  a  great  throng,  and  as  each  name  is 
uttered  the  owner  of  it  will  press  forward,  and  the  Arch- 
angel on  seeing  him  will  give  orders  for  him  to  pass,  while 
the  name  will  be  checked  from  the  book.  When  Daoud's 
name  is  called,  if  there  were  a  picture  of  him,  it  might  be 
that  the  likeness  would  arrive  first,  and  this  might  be 


ii          PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       27 

passed  in,  and  the  name  on  the  roll  struck  off ;  and  when 
he  arrived  to  demand  admittance  he  might  be  told 
that  Daoud  Levi  had  already  entered  in,  and  that  he 
must  be  a  pretender,  and  although  he  might  beg  and 
pray  and  ask  for  investigation  of  the  truth,  it  would 
not  be  surprising  if  he  were  told  that  he  had  brought 
the  hardship  upon  himself,  and  that  on  such  a  busy 
occasion  there  was  no  opportunity  to  go  into  disputed 
questions." 


IV.  H.  H. 

EXAMPLES    OK    JEWISH    TYPE. 


Daoud  Levi  zealously  watched  my  face  to  see  if  the 
irresistible  logic  of  his  argument  were  duly  appreciated.  I 
did  my  best  to  betray  due  concern  for  the  eternal  peril  he 
might  thoughtlessly  have  provoked.  "  Neither  of  us  had 
thought  of  that,  had  we  ?  "  I  reflected  aloud  to  my  friend  ; 
"but  perhaps  the  difficulty  can  be  met.  Ask  whether  if 
we  take  effectual  steps  to  give  the  figure  in  the  picture 
the  name  of  a  Christian,  the  danger  will  be  obviated  ?  " 
"  Yes,  if  the  means  were  satisfactory,"  said  Daoud. 
"  Would  baptizing  it  do  ?  "  I  asked.  After  a  little  reflec- 
tion he  decided  that  this  would  be  an  effectual  means  of 


28  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

separating  the  picture  from  himself,  so  I  arranged  that 
after  I  had  made  the  first  few  strokes  I  would  sprinkle 
some  water  on  the  likeness,  and  give  it  a  distinct  franghi 
name  before  his  friends  as  witnesses,  and  with  this  under- 
standing the  obstacle  to  his  attendance  at  my  studio  was 
removed. 

The  next  morning,  with  friends,  he  appeared  ready 
to  sit  to  me,  but  not  without  searching  glances  into 
the  corners  of  the  room,  and  making  many  impatient 
inquiries  about  the  details  of  my  picture.  It  was  a  work 
of  perseverance  to  get  him  to  go  far  enough  away  from 
the  canvas  to  allow  me  to  see  him.  Faint  lines  he  would 
not  accept  as  the  image,  so  I  had  to  use  charcoal,  and 
when  I  could  point  out  to  him  the  features  of  a  face, 
and  show  him  that  I  was  prepared  for  the  ceremony  of 
christening,  he  went  as  far  away  as  possible.  I  then 
declared  the  figure's  name  to  be  Jack  Robinson.  Daoud 
was  satisfied,  but  when  the  superabundant  blackness  was 
dusted  away,  scepticism  on  his  part  returned  whether  I 
had  not  expunged  the  baptized  likeness,  and  I  had  to 
rechristen  the  painted  preparation  before  a  fair  start  in  his 
posing  could  be  made.  It  proved  that  when  he  was  driven 
to  it  he  could  talk  Arabic  very  well,  and  as  I  was  then 
practising  it  grammatically,  we  got  on  without  difficulty  ; 
in  fact,  he  talked  more  than  enough,  with  an  eager 
and  stumbling  manner  of  speech,  which  was  amusing  but 
bewildering  to  my  preoccupied  mind.  The  visits  of  his 
friends,  who  diverted  his  mercurial  mind  and  body  from 
the  pose,  made  the  task  no  easier,  so  that  at  the  end  of 
the  day  I  felt  as  though  I  had  been  working  for  a  week, 
and  my  walk  outside  the  city  at  sundown  was  very 
welcome. 

A  few  days  of  this  intercourse  with  the  child-like  man 
had  impressed  me  in  his  favour,  so  that  when  he  declared 
himself  in  great  trouble,  I  invited  him  to  reveal  its 
nature  to  me.  He  said  that  the  fast  of  the  Atonement 
and  the  feast  of  the  Tabernacle  were  coming  on,  and 
that  from  having  neglected  his  business  he  had  not  been 


ii         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       29 

able  to  collect  outstanding  accounts,  and  that  what  money 
he  had  received  from  me  was  not  enough  for  his  pre- 
parations; he  would  have  therefore  to  discontinue  coming 
to  me  some  days  before  the  date  of  the  feast,  and  this  would 
continue  so  long  that  there  would  be  at  least  a  fortnight's 
interval.  It  would  be  unjust  for  him  to  be  kept  out  of 
his  final  payments  so  long,  particularly  as  he  heard  I  was 
going  away  soon  and  might  defraud  him  altogether  ;  he 
went  on  to  say  that  if  I  would  let  him  have  the  retained 
money,  with  the  ^2  extra  that  had  been  promised  on 
condition  of  his  punctuality,  he  would  have  all  that  he 
wanted  ;  he  would  not  be  obliged  to  search  elsewhere  for 
means  for  the  feast  and  would  come  the  preceding  days. 
Suspecting  my  mistrust,  he  called  heaven  to  witness  that  he 
would  show  his  gratitude  by  coming  the  first  moment 
after  his  religious  duties  released  him. 

On  his  repeating  this  assurance,  I  told  him  that  I 
was  ready  to  trust  him,  and  paid  into  his  hands  the 
coveted  money.  His  success  was  evidently  more  than 
he  had  expected,  and  he  was  profuse  in  his  promises  to 
come  early  in  the  morning. 

He  did  not  appear.  I  would  not  at  first  allow  myself 
to  believe  that  he  belonged  to  the  legion  of  liars  and 
overreachers.  There  was  the  possibility  that  some  un- 
avoidable business  was  detaining  him,  so  I  went  to  his 
shop.  It  was  shut.  I  looked  for  him  in  other  haunts  in 
vain,  and  at  last  I  went  to  his  house.  An  old  woman 
held  the  handle  of  the  door  in  her  hand,  saying  he  was 
not  at  home.  While  she  spoke,  I  heard  a  screeching 
laugh,  with  an  inquiry  in  an  unknown  female  voice 
whether  it  was  the  English  fool,  and  the  old  woman  drew 
the  door  back  for  me  to  enter.  I  went  in.  At  the  top  of 
a  flight  of  steps  I  saw  a  handsome  Jewess  with  her  clasped 
hands  rocking  herself,  in  convulsions  of  laughter,  so  that 
her  closed  palms  were  alternately  between  her  knees  and 
above  her  head. 

"  You  are,  you  are,  you  are  a  pretty  fool  !  My 
husband  told  me  that  he  should  try  to  cheat  you,  but 


3o  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

we  scarcely  thought  you  would  be  so  taken  in.  You 
need  not  look  for  him  any  further,  for  he'll  never  come  to 
you  any  more,  now  he  has  the  money,  never  !  "  My 
reply  was,  "I  will  call  again  soon."  "Do,"  she  said,  "1 
like  to  laugh  at  you."  I  went  to  the  Consulate.  The 
Consul  was  not  in,  but  his  cancelkria  heard  my  story  and 
put  a  kawas  at  my  service.  Soon  1  was  again  knocking 
at  Daoud  Levi's  house,  with  my  follower  left  a  little 
way  out  of  sight.  The  old  woman  with  a  merry  expression 
opened  the  door  wide  for  me  to  enter  the  courtyard. 
"  Can  I  see  the  master  ? "  I  asked,  and  hurriedly  from  an 
upper  room  out  burst  the  wife,  clapping  her  hands  and 
salaaming,  ending  with,  "  Yes,  you  shall  see  the  master. 
Come  out,  O  husband  !  "  and  on  the  landing  he  also 
appeared  with  modified  bravado,  running  on  into  a 
stammer,  and  apologising  with  bad  grace,  saying  that  the 
approaching  feast  made  it  impossible  for  him  to  come  to 
me,  and  that  the  money  received  was  not  too  much,  for 
he  had  been  for  several  days  to  my  studio,  and  that  it 
hindered  his  business.  When  I  said  that  he  had  signed 
his  name  on  my  wall  against  the  account,  and  also  his 
promise  to  come  again,  "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  that  was  to  get  the 
money.  You  wouldn't  have  given  it  without."  "  That 
was  to  get  the  money,"  repeated  the  antic  of  a  woman,  and 
she  danced  and  crowed  with  an  intoxication  of  triumph. 
"  I  have  brought  a  friend  who  wants  particularly  to  see 
you,  O  Daoud,"  I  said.  "  Ah,  it  is  no  use,"  he  urged,  but 
he  was  cut  short  by  his  wife  with,  "  Pray  let  the  visitor 
favour  us  ;  pray  come  in,  O  friend,"  raising  her  voice  each 
moment  to  a  higher  pitch.  I  turned  and  made  the  sign, 
and  down,  with  stately  paces  and  a  silver-knobbed  mace, 
the  kawas  descended  the  stone  stairs  into  the  yard  and 
stood  majestic. 

Groaning  sighs  from  two  apparently  Medusa-stricken 
beings  told  how  such  a  possibility  as  the  actual  consequences 
of  the  deceit  had  never  entered  into  their  imaginations. 
The  woman  pushed  the  husband  to  one  of  the  doors,  but 
I  said,  "  You  must  not  leave  us  alone,  O  Daoud.  Mv 


ii         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       31 

friend  here  particularly  wants  your  company,  for  he  is 
going  to  the  Pasha's  court,  and  he  must  have  you  with 
him,"  at  which  their  faces  became  blank,  their  eyes  started, 
and  the  colour  fled  from  their  lips.  The  woman  fell 
on  her  knees,  and  the  husband  appealed  to  me  to  believe 
that  he  had  intended  to  come,  and  that  they  had  only 
declared  the  contrary  in  play.  "  No  !  No  !  You  lie 
now  as  you  lied  before,"  said  I,  unconcerned,  and  kept 
this  tone  until  it  seemed  they  had  been  enough  punished 
for  the  nonce,  then  I  charged  them  to  listen  to  me.  "  If 
you  wish  me  to  save  you  from  prison,  you  must  give  me 
back  the  two  sovereigns  and  the  extra  money.  You 
must  give  this  '  friend  '  of  mine  two  bishlick,  and  you 
will  have  to  come  with  me  to  be  painted  now,  for  the 
whole  day,  and  if  you  fail  any  day  till  the  feast  comes, 
you  will  have  no  mercy  shown  you."  The  money  was 
quickly  forthcoming,  and  the  kaivas  went  back  to  the 
Consulate. 

In  five  minutes  more  Daoud  was  in  my  room.  Pre- 
viously to  setting  to  work  I  took  the  opportunity  of  trying 
to  prove  to  him  the  iniquity  of  his  conduct.  "  Your  error 
is  in  thinking  that  because  you  are  a  son  of  Abraham,  no 
truthfulness  and  no  honesty  is  necessary  in  your  dealings 
with  the  rest  of  the  world  to  secure  God's  favour  ;  but  the 
whole  teaching  of  the  history  of  your  nation  proves  that 
you  were  intended  to  be  better  than  other  people,  and 
that  when  you  disregard  this,  your  sin  is  greater  than  that 
of  people  to  whom  the  law  was  not  given."  To  my  sur- 
prise I  was  at  once  challenged  on  this  postulate  in  the 
meekest  tone.  "  But  it  is  not  wicked  to  tell  lies  when 
it  is  for  an  object."  "  Why,"  I  returned,  "  is  it  not  written, 
'  a  false  weight  and  a  lying  tongue  are  an  abomination 
to  the  Lord'  ?"  "Yes,  but  that  is  when  there  is  no 
purpose  in  it.  Look,"  he  added  eagerly,  "  all  the 
patriarchs  and  David  told  lies  at  times."  I  had  to  say, 
"  Every  one  knows  they  did,  and  it  is  an  example  of  the 
candour  of  the  Bible  that  such  blemishes  are  recorded 
in  the  character  of  men  who,  in  other  respects,  were 


32  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

faithful  servants  of  God."  But  his  next  rejoinder  surprised 
me.  "  No,  these  lies  were  merits  in  them,  and  to  prove 
that  falsehoods  are  not  wrong  we  have  the  example  of  God 
Almighty  uttering  one  when  He  reported  to  Abraham 
Sarah's  want  of  faith  in  the  promise  that  she  should  have 
a  son,  declaring  that  '  she  laughed,'  whereas  she  is 
reported  only  to  have  'laughed  within  herself  ;  this  the 
Almighty  did  to  make  her  want  of  faith  appear  the  more 
heinous."  In  vain  I  strove  to  convince  him  that  the 
disputed  point  in  Sarah's  course  was  whether  her  laughing 
was  a  sign  of  her  open  incredulity,  but  his  rabbinical 
sophistry  made  him  strain  at  a  gnat  and  swallow  a  camel. 

It  must  not  be  supposed  that  an  artist  in  honestly 
using  his  model  does  not  obey  the  principles  of  selection. 
He  has  to  eschew  all  marks  of  degradation  or  unsuitability 
in  the  person  before  him  which  would  not  be  consistent 
with  the  character  that  he  has  in  mind,  exercising  thus  the 
same  fastidious  choice  as  in  the  theme  he  treats. 

Some  painters  who  have  since  worked  in  the  East  on 
Scriptural  subjects  do  not  appear  to  have  considered  the 
gulf  between  the  common  men  and  women  to  be  found  in 
a  degraded  society  and  the  great  leaders  of  thought, 
whose  lives  were  passed  in  an  atmosphere  of  heavenly 
communion.  The  fact  that  Abraham  was  a  nomad,  that 
David  was  a  shepherd,  that  Jesus  was  a  carpenter,  and 
that  His  first  disciples  were  fishermen,  makes  it  valuable 
for  artists  and  authors  to  examine  people  following  such 
occupations  under  the  same  sun,  but  seeing  that  it  was  not 
because  the  founders  of  the  religion  of  the  most  advanced 
races  were  peasants  that  we  want  to  know  about  them,  the 
representation  of  uninspired  peasants  of  this  day  will  not 
satisfy  a  just  thinker  as  the  presentment  of  the  leaders  of 
men  who  are  worshipped  and  loved.  To  take  a  homely 
example  from  the  case  of  Bunyan  ;  to  represent  him,  it 
would  not  be  enough,  because  he  was  a  tinker,  to  ascertain 
the  exact  costume  of  such  a  mechanic  in  the  time  of  Charles 
II.,  and  to  copy  a  modern  tinker  in  a  made-to-pattern 
dress.  If  this  were  done,  be  it  ever  so  correctly,  the 


ii         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       33 

copy  could  not  stand  for  the  inspirited  dreamer,  the  patient 
enemy  of  worldly  compromise,  the  martyr  prisoner,  and 
the  steadfast  truster  in  God.  When  historic  painting  is 
inspired  by  this  servile  spirit,  it  would  have  been  better 
that  the  artist  had  used  his  ingenuity  in  making  boots, 
coats,  or  tables. 

Warder  Cressen  was  a  Canadian  who  had  left  wife 
and  family  at  home  to  come  out  and  preach  Christianity 
to  the  Jews.  Not  sufficiently  fortified  in  his  original 
Christian  faith  to  triumph  in  his  task,  in  a  few  months 
he  became  a  proselyte  to  Judaism,  and  after  invitation 
to  his  family  to  follow  his  example,  renounced  them 
and  took  a  wife  of  the  daughters  of  Judah.  From 
him  I  obtained  the  opportunity  of  painting  from  his  roof 
the  cypresses  in  my  picture.  When  I  was  at  his  house 
I  found  that  the  husband  knew  not  one  word  of  the 
language  of  his  wife,  and  she  none  of  his,  so  they  talked 
in  dumb  show  ;  this  disability  was  perhaps  a  safe- 
guard against  contention.  He  had  also  been  a  helper 
in  my  dealings  with  the  mercer,  through  means  of 
his  brother-in-law,  who  was  related  to  this  very  un- 
punctual  and  dishonourable  model,  and  now  he  served 
me  greatly  by  obtaining  from  the  master  of  the  Synagogue 
the  loan  for  a  few  hours  of  the  silver  crown  of  the 
law. 

The  Pasha,  who  had  been  courageous  enough  to  allow 
franghis  to  enter  the  Mosque  As  Sakreh,  was  a  Moslem 
of  singularly  open  mind.  He  came  to  Jerusalem  not 
only  without  a  handsome  number  of  wives,  but  without 
one.  He  soon  conceived  a  cordial  friendship  for  Baron 
Rosen,  the  Prussian  Consul,  and  visited  him  as  an  intimate. 
The  Consul,  who  was  of  courteous  and  gentle  manner, 
appreciated  the  desire  of  the  Pasha  to  understand  the  life 
of  a  European  household,  and  welcomed  him  at  all  times. 

The  Pasha  became  specially  interested  in  the  house- 
hold affairs  which,  without  ceremony,  Madame  Rosen 
discharged  in  his  presence.  After  awhile,  in  a  confidential 
talk  with  the  Consul,  he  avowed  that  the  European  system 

VOL.    II  D 


34  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  11 

of  managing  a  house  was  distinctly  to  be  preferred  to 
that  of  the  Oriental,  in  that  dishonesty  was  completely 
checked  in  the  servants  ;  this  he  declared  was  truly 
excellent,  but  still  he  added,  "  There  is  one  point  I  cannot 
understand ;  your  wife  effectually  guards  you  from  dis- 
honest servants,  but  what  check  have  you  to  prevent 
her  from  defrauding  you  herself  ?  " 

I  had  begun  a  water-colour  drawing  of  the  pool 
of  Gihon,  with  the  plain  of  Rephaim  beyond,  from  out- 
side the  walls.  In  view  of  my  forthcoming  departure 
I  now  applied  myself  diligently  to  this  landscape.  I 
arrived  at  my  place  of  work  an  hour  or  two  before 
sunset  ;  there  was  no  servant  at  command  who  would  not 
have  been  more  trouble  than  help,  so  I  carried  my  own 
materials.  One  day,  when  the  wind  was  brisk  enough  to 
make  me  almost  wish  for  an  attendant  who  might  have 
been  of  use  to  prevent  my  things  from  being  scattered, 
the  Armenian  Patriarch  came  by  on  his  mule,  attended 
by  a  single  runner.  I  could  only  give  him  a  bowing 
salute.  When  he  had  passed,  he  pulled  up,  sending  his 
man  to  ask  me  to  speak  with  him ;  as  my  materials 
could  not  be  left  to  the  mercy  of  the  winds,  I  was 
obliged  to  excuse  myself  with  the  request  to  be 
allowed  to  call  at  the  Patriarchate  the  next  day. 
Accompanied  by  a  friendly  interpreter,  we  were  received 
in  grand  state  in  a  large  saloon.  Relays  of  sweetmeats,  coffee, 
and  long  pipes  were  served,  and  these  ceremonies  being 
over,  the  Patriarch  explained  that  having  heard  of  me 
and  seen  me  painting  about  the  city,  he  had  thought  that 
I  might  execute  for  his  church  a  fresh  picture  of  Sit 
Miriam  and  another  of  Issa  Messiah,  and  also  add  to  the 
number  and  restore  some  of  the  existing  life-sized  pictures 
of  saints  decorating  the  building.  This  was  a  tempting 
offer  after  my  tedious  work  on  a  small  scale  ;  to  have 
made  use  of  good-looking  Armenian  models  for  large 
work  in  archaic  yet  bold  spirit,  to  have  painted  the 
Patriarch  himself,  indeed,  with  handsome  aureole,  would 
have  been  a  refreshing  variation,  but  now  long -con- 


36  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

tinued  worries  were  telling  on  my  health,  and  it  was 
growing  late  in  the  autumn  for  my  journey  to  the 
Lebanon,  so  I  replied  that  I  had  been  away  from 
England  nearly  two  years,  that  my  father  and  mother 
were  counting  upon  my  return,  and  that  his  Excellence 
would  see  that  I  could  not  now  commit  myself  to  a  fresh 
task,  but  that  it  was  my  intention  to  return  from  England 
very  shortly,  and  I  would  then  offer  myself  for  his  service. 
The  good  old  nonagenarian  was  very  pressing  that  I  should 
stay,  and  even  offered  to  write  to  my  father,  but  I  was 
obliged  to  persist  in  my  refusal. 

My  last  work  on  the  Temple  picture  was  from  slabs 
of  the  local  limestone  rock  representing  the  pavement  of 
the  Court  of  the  Temple  polished  by  constant  wear. 

For  near  two  years  since  landing  in  the  East  I  had 
escaped  fever.  I  had  lived  in  unhealthy  parts  of  the  city, 
and  spared  my  strength  but  little.  My  constitution 
had  resisted  all  evils,  and  till  the  last  few  weeks 
acquaintances  had  wondered  at  my  immunity,  but  now 
they  assured  me  that  I  looked  poorly,  and  it  was  not  easy  to 
affect  indifference.  Graham  often  went  to  Artass  on  Sunday 
mornings  to  perform  the  service,  and  one  day  I  agreed  to 
start  with  him.  I  rode  moodily  and  slowly  in  his  company, 
and  arrived  in  such  a  chilly  condition  that  while  the  service 
proceeded  I  lay  outside  in  the  heat  of  the  sun.  I 
could  not  join  the  family  board  when  the  meal  came  ;  tea 
was  all  I  could  put  to  my  lips  ;  as  the  sun  shone  on  me 
afterwards,  the  iciness  changed  to  violent  burning,  with  a 
still  more  burdensome  oppression  in  the  head.  I  wondered 
whether  I  could  sit  my  horse  to  return.  It  had  become 
late,  and  desperation  urged  me  to  mount,  then  to  hurry 
up  the  rugged  slope,  and  gallop  on  all  the  flatter  roads, 
until  I  arrived  home  and  thankfully  threw  myself  into  bed, 
trusting  I  could  sleep  off  my  headache. 

Next  morning  I  found  myself  attacked  by  tertiary 
fever.  On  my  convalescence  the  doctor  advised  that  I 
should  go  on  my  journey  for  the  benefit  of  change  and 
fresh  air  as  soon  as  possible. 


ii         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD        37 

A  few  days  later,  Graham,  who  knew  everybody, 
told  me  that  the  Pasha's  secretary,  hearing  of  my  strong 
desire  to  go  alone  into  the  Mosque,  promised  him  that  if 
I  went  that  afternoon  to  his  office  he  would  secure  me 
the  opportunity.  After  the  formalities  of  coffee  and 
pipes  had  been  gone  through,  I  was  passed  on  to  the 
custodian  of  the  Mosque,  a  tall,  handsome  man  of  about 
forty-five  years  of  age.  He  was  the  descendant  of  the 


FROM     MOSQUK    AS    SAKREH. 


official  appointed  by  the  Caliph  Omar  ;  lately  a  placeman 
from  Constantinople  had  arrived  to  supplant  him,  but  the 
man  in  possession  proved  that  not  even  the  present  head 
of  the  faithful  could  ever  oust  him  or  his  sons,  and  the 
usurper  went  away  discomfited. 

The  official  led  the  way  into  the  sacred  enclosure, 
which  looked  more  beautiful  than  before.  It  was  a 
singular  example  of  the  Moslem's  submissiveness  to  the 
inevitable  that  so  few  days  after  the  faithful  were  eager  to 
die  to  defend  the  Mosque  from  intrusion,  this  later  visit 


38  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  n 

could  be  made  without  guards  to  protect  me,  although 
I  was  habited  in  English  costume.  When,  however, 
having  made  a  general  round  of  the  building,  I  revealed 
that  my  further  wish  was  to  ascend  to  the  roof  of  As 
Sakreh  and  make  a  drawing,  the  guide  looked  un- 
comfortable, and  declared  that  the  key  to  the  stairs  was  at 
a  distance,  and  if  I  were  seen  alone  I  should  be  attacked. 
However,  he  gave  way,  and,  shaded  from  the  afternoon 
sun  by  the  dome,  I  sat  for  an  hour  or  so,  making  my 
map -like  sketch  of  the  walls  and  Scopas,  and  thus  a 
victory  over  what  had  seemed  an  insuperable  obstacle  was 
achieved. 

I  had  deferred  a  visit  of  thanks  to  the  secretary,  but 
the  next  day,  when  in  the  midst  of  the  confusion  of 
packing,  an  urgent  message  was  brought  by  the  Pasha's 
kawas  that  I  should  attend  the  Deewan  at  once.  I  took 
my  sketch  -  book,  and  was  received  by  the  Pasha's 
factotum,  who  declared  that  he  had  expected  me  to 
give  him  a  drawing  of  the  Mosque,  and  now  requested 
it.  I  explained  that  it  was  then  impossible  for  me  to 
do  one,  as  I  was  on  the  point  of  departure  from  the 
city,  whereupon  he  added  that  he  had  supposed  I  would 
make  him  a  present  of  his  own  portrait.  He  was  a 
funny  little  short  -  necked  Assyrian  in  bastard  Frank 
costume  ;  at  once  I  undertook  a  drawing  of  him.  As 
I  progressed,  the  mute  servants  about  vainly  endeavoured 
to  hide  their  curiosity.  In  an  hour  the  portrait  was 
done,  and  he  turned  it  about  to  see  its  resemblance 
and  show  some  subtle  beauties  in  it,  only  regretting 
that  he  could  not  be  done  a  second  time  without  his 
tarboosh. 

It  was  on  the  iyth  of  October  that  I  sent  away 
my  boxes  to  Oxford,  with  pictures  and  materials.  In 
the  afternoon  I  mounted  my  horse  and  left  Jerusalem. 
Graham,  who  had  suddenly  resolved  to  accompany  me 
as  far  as  Nazareth,  was  the  cause  of  a  late  start,  but 
I  was  compensated  by  his  company.  Mr.  Poole,  a 
geologist  visiting  the  country  for  the  Sultan's  informa- 


4o  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

tion  as  to  mining  possibilities,  also  rode  with  us  ; 
his  prime  desire  was  to  meet  the  Consul,  who  was 
somewhere  away  in  the  north. 

We  passed  through  to  Beera  to  pitch  our  tent,  and 
thence  we  went  on  to  Nablous  and  Nazareth,  by  way  of 
Samaria  and  Jenin.  On  the  stage  from  Jenin  we  were 
threatened  by  bedouin,  who,  however,  wheeled  off  when 
we  drew  up  with  the  sign  of  "  ready."  At  the  Galilean 
village,  which  is  one  of  the  few  spots  in  Palestine  to  which 
English  travellers  accord  the  merit  of  beauty,  which  in  my 
eyes  in  one  way  or  the  other  every  part  of  the  country 
possesses,  I  was  delayed  long  enough  to  undertake  a  large 
coloured  drawing. 

Mr.  Poole  had  left  us  already,  but  Graham  had 
fallen  ill,  and  had  wisely  accepted  the  hospitality  of  a 
missionary  and  his  wife,  who  were  nursing  him.  For 
some  days  he  grew  worse,  and  I  became  anxious  ;  in  the 
meantime  tidings  arrived  that  Tiberias,  which  was  to  be 
my  next  station,  was  so  scourged  by  cholera  that  all  its 
inhabitants  had  left  it.  I  told  my  friend  that  the  news 
settled  with  me  in  the  negative  the  question  of  his  coming, 
but  he  threw  off  his  malady,  and  against  my  urgent  remon- 
strance persisted  in  accompanying  me. 

On  the  26th  we  struck  the  tent  early,  but  did  not 
start  till  past  three.  We  sent  on  the  muleteer  with  the 
baggage  direct,  with  orders  to  set  the  tent  ready  for  our 
arrival.  We  could  see  him  in  the  descending  plain  as  we 
went  up  the  ridge  to  Tabor  ;  rich  vegetation,  rare  on  the 
tops  of  hills,  here  surged  up  around  old  walls  and  towers, 
and  between  gaps  were  distances  of  beauty,  more  intense 
for  being  so  foregrounded.  So  evident  is  it  that  the 
whole  summit  had  been  occupied  by  a  city  at  the  time  of 
the  Saviour,  that  the  legend  connecting  the  Transfigura- 
tion with  this  mount  only  increases  the  number  of  doubtful 
sites  in  which  authority,  unsupported  by  internal  evidence, 
claims  faith. 

When  off  my  horse,  and  yet  leading  him  in  practicable 
places,  I  strove  to  get  an  outlook  to  the  east.  Clamber- 


ii         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD        41 

ing  among  rich  tree  growths,  I  reached  a  height  where  the 
old  wall  joined  a  fortification  still  undemolished  enough  to 
form,  with  the  trunks  and  branches  of  trees,  a  frame  to 
the  eastern  distance.  Below  the  furthest  horizon,  amid 
amethystine  variation  of  gradating  tints  like  those  of  a 
prism  spectrum,  lay  a  mirror,  oval  and  unbroken  in  border, 
which  reflected  the  turquoise  sky  so  perfectly  that  it  looked 


•  ~  "    .  *  \-y-  4*  ''^v,  > 

if 

' 


JEMX. 


like  a  portion  of  the  heavens  seen  through  the  earth.  It 
was  the  Sea  of  Galilee,  the  next  haven  of  which  I  was  in 
search. 

I  have  read  many  books  that  speak  of  Palestine  as  in 
itself  devoid  of  attraction,  without  beauty,  and  wearisome 
in  its  sterility.  Several  writers  are  undoubtedly  moved 
by  the  desire  to  demonstrate  the  entire  fulfilment  of  the 
curse  with  which  it  was  threatened.  As  far  as  I  could 
see,  the  actual  curse  dates  onlv  from  the  time  that  the 


42  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Turks  entered  into  possession.  From  the  landlord's  point 
of  view  undoubtedly  there  is  now  much  to  deplore,  for 
miles  of  the  mountain  tablelands  are  unproductive;  but  this 
is  owing  to  the  destruction  of  the  cisterns,  aqueducts, 
and  the  terraces  on  the  slopes  that  kept  up  the  soil.  The 
trees  are  also  rooted  up  and  become  fewer  each  year, 
owing  to  the  imposition  of  a  tax  upon  every  one  that 
grows,  even  before  the  three  years  needful  to  bring  it  to 
fruitfulness  have  expired,  so  that  any  unforeseen  drain  on 
the  farmer's  purse  at  once  condemns  the  trees  to  be  cut 
down  and  taken  to  the  nearest  market  for  firewood.  But 
there  is  a  beauty  independent  of  fruitfulness,  which  per- 
haps it  is  too  much  to  expect  all  to  see,  just  as  it  is 
unreasonable  to  require  the  ordinary  observer  to  appreciate 
the  beauty  of  the  proportions  and  lines  of  a  human 
skeleton  ;  and  yet  if  the  latter  were  placed  in  juxtaposition 
with  the  complete  bones  of  an  ourang-outang  its  grace  could 
scarcely  fail  to  be  convincing.  It  is  in  this  sense,  with  a 
hundredfold  less  strain  upon  natural  prejudice,  that  Syria  is 
intrinsically  beautiful.  The  formation  of  the  country,  the 
spread  of  the  plains,  the  rise  of  the  hills,  the  lute-like 
lines  of  the  mounts,  all  are  exquisite  ;  and  with  these 
fundamental  merits  there  is  often  enough  of  vegetation 
to  add  the  charm  of  life  to  the  whole.  It  may  be  that 
pictures  of  Oriental  landscape  do  not  always  satisfy  high 
expectations  of  beauty  ;  certainly  faithful  transcripts  of 
landscape  passages  are  often  disappointing.  This  is 
accounted  for  by  the  fact  that  in  a  country  of  great  range 
there  is  a  variety  and  equipoise  as  the  charmed  spectator 
turns  to  left  or  right  which  does  not  exist  in  the  limited 
picture. 

I  could  have  stood  long  looking  at  the  scene  which 
had  burst  upon  me  in  such  unexpected  beauty,  but 
the  soldier  reminded  me  of  the  length  of  the  journey 
we  had  to  make.  Graham,  with  a  photographer's 
keenness,  was  making  independent  research.  I  now 
asked  the  guide  if  it  would  be  possible  to  get  water 
to  drink,  and  he  took  me  to  the  spot  where  prepara- 


ii         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       43 

tions  were  being  made  for  the  foundations  of  the  three 
churches  which  were  to  be  built,  one  to  Moses,  one  to 
Elias,  and  one  to  Christ.  We  found  Greek  monks 
and  a  humble  priest  in  charge,  and  after  a  little  delay 
were  supplied  with  a  draught  of  clear  water,  whereupon 
I  returned  to  my  friend  and  forthwith  descended  into  the 
eastern  plain. 

The  country  between  Tabor  and  Tiberias  is  full  of 
enthralling  associations.  The  loss  of  the  sun  was  never 
more  regretted  than  when  it  sank  behind  me,  the  dark- 
ness grew,  there  was  no  moon,  our  way  was  rugged 
with  rocks ;  our  horses  groped  down  and  up  deep  wadies. 
The  earth  was  so  dim,  and  the  sky  was  of  such  deep 
hue,  that  only  the  stars  showed  the  whereabouts  of  the 
horizon.  I  was  riding-  in  advance  when  we  came  to 
an  extended  flat,  and  I  was  admiring  Cassiopeia  and 
the  Great  Bear,  when  my  attention  was  caught  by 
an  animated  talk  going  on  between  the  guard  and 
my  friend's  excellent  servant,  Issa  Nicola.  The  guide 
was  a  soldier  whom  the  Metsellim  of  Nazareth  had  urged 
us  to  take,  and  he  was  of  course  a  Moslem. 

"  I  did  not  know  the  franghh  were  Mahomedans," 
said  the  guide. 

"  Neither  are  they,"  said  Issa. 

"  But  your  masters  are,"  the  soldier  argued. 

"  What  are  you  talking  about  ?  "  shouted  Issa,  all  of  his 
feeling  of  possessorship  in  us  being  outraged. 

"  Well,"  added  the  other,  "  1  don't  know  for  certain 
about  the  elder  one,  but  that  the  younger  is  a  Moslem  I 
am  sure." 

"  He's  no  such  thin^;,"  said  Issa  ;  "  he  has  lived  in 
Jerusalem  for  a  year  and  a  half,  and  he  is  a  Christian,  I 
tell  you." 

But  the  guide  was  not  to  be  silenced  thus.  "  He's 
not  a  Christian,  that's  very  clear,  and  I'll  tell  you  why  I 
know.  On  the  top  of  Tabor,  when  we  were  going  about, 
he  became  thirsty  and  asked  me  if  I  could  find  some 
water.  I  took  him  to  where  the  builders  are  ;  a  priest 


44  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

received  us,  and  while  waiting  he  produced  a  small  crucifix 
carved  out  of  the  stone  found  there.  The  Khowagha  took 
it,  turned  it  over,  peering  at  it  closely  all  round,  and  then 
handed  it  back,  thanking  the  priest.  The  latter  urged 
him  to  keep  it  ;  but  the  Englishman  firmly  refused, 
saying  he  did  not  want  it.  Now  had  he  been  a  Christian 
you  know  very  well  that  he  would  have  kissed  it  first, 
and  then  muttered  some  prayers  and  put  it  in  his 
bosom." 

"  You  are  quite  mistaken,"  said  Issa.  "  He  is  a  Pro- 
testant; Protestant!  don't  have  idols  or  crosses  in  their 
churches,  and  do  not  carry  crucifixes  on  their  breasts. 
Their  churches  are  empty  of  images,  and  they  kneel  only 
towards  the  east,  and  in  their  houses  they  pray  only  to 
the  unseen  God." 

"  Well,  that's  just  what  I  say,"  summed  up  the  soldier  ; 
"  he  is  a  Moslem.  '  Protestant '  is,  I  see,  another  name 
for  the  same  religion." 

The  discussion  did  not  end  at  this  point,  but  it  went 
off  into  tiresome  details  which  I  ceased  to  follow.  The 
act  from  which  the  trooper  had  drawn  conclusions  as  to 
my  creed  had  been  performed  from  dread  of  overloading 
myself  with  trifles. 

The  only  variation  in  the  scene  before  us  was  in  the 
gradual  uprising  of  the  stars,  except  when  the  level  plain 
had  some  break  in  it,  which  our  horses  could  understand 
better  than  ourselves,  and  then  we  left  them  more  than 
ever  to  their  own  guidance.  It  had  taken  so  much  longer 
than  I  had  calculated  to  reach  the  last  descent,  that  I 
was  feeling  weary  at  the  monotony  of  the  journey, 
until  gradually  it  was  possible  to  distinguish  changes  of 
form  in  the  objects  in  the  near  foreground.  A  few 
hundred  more  paces  we  were  on  the  brink  of  a  deep 
precipice  ;  and  there  below  the  horizon  in  the  gloom 
floated  what  might  have  been  taken  for  a  cloud,  but  that 
a  solitary  fire  far  away  on  the  mountain  land  beyond  and 
a  nearer  flame  were  reflected  deep  into  its  surface.  This 
was  again  the  Sea  of  Galilee. 


ii         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       45 

We  dismounted  and  trod  down  the  steep  and  rugged 
road,  holding  the  bridles  so  that  the  horses  should  have 
an  easy  and  deliberate  choice  of  foothold.  The  descent  was 
exceedingly  irksome,  the  more  so  as  I  had  scarcely  slept 
the  night  before  ;  but  my  fear  was  that  my  companion 
would  be  overtaxed  in  the  incessant  manoeuvring  to  wind 
down  the  headlong  path  in  such  manner  that  the  beast 
should  not  fall  over  upon  him. 

It  must  have  been  more  than  the  depth  of  Shakespeare's 
Cliff  ere  we  found  a  midway  tableland  fit  for  our  horses. 
When  we  had  remounted  and  advanced  a  few  yards,  we 
felt  ourselves  suddenly  confronted  and  surrounded.  To 
our  challenge,  a  speaker  in  disarming  voice  told  us  that 
Tiberias  was  so  afflicted  with  cholera  that  it  was  deserted. 
Most  of  the  residents  had  gone  to  Safid  ;  but  the  very 
poor  came  up  and  slept  around  the  well  each  night.  They 
added  that  our  muleteers  had  passed  soon  after  sunset, 
and  had  gone  forward  to  prepare  our  tents  for  us.  We 
gave  them  a  few  coins  in  return  for  water,  and  went  on 
wishing  more  than  ceremonious  peace  to  them. 

A  further  descent  brought  us  to  the  slope  on  which 
Antipas  built  his  imperial  city.  When  within  sight  of 
the  towers  we  called  out  for  our  muleteer,  and  found  that 
he  had  chosen  to  pitch  the  tents  in  the  burial-ground  close 
to  the  walls  of  the  pestilence-stricken  city.  We  made 
him  move  them  to  a  place  above  the  town,  where  we 
settled  for  the  night,  and  took  our  meal  of  eggs,  bread, 
and  tea.  My  friend  was  unusually  docile,  and  retired  to 
bed  early.  I  stayed  and  watched  the  slowly  increasing 
glow  above  the  mountain  horizon  and  the  brightening 
waters  below.  Suddenly  a  spot  of  flame-like  brightness 
arose  beyond  the  far  mountain  line,  steadily  growing  into 
the  burnished  circle  of  the  moon.  As  it  ascended,  a  path 
was  spread  across  the  lake  below,  and  what  had  been  ere- 
while  blank  and  dead  became  a  pulsating  and  breathing 
world. 

I  bless  my  soul  now  that  I  beheld  that  lovely  scene. 
I  shut  my  eyelids,  and  can  see  the  creeping  waters  with  the 


46  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  n 

ladder  of  molten  fire.  I  can  count  again  its  miles  by  the 
mark  of  currents  and  wisps  of  wind  that  fretted  its  sur- 
face. The  waters  labour,  they  travail,  from  the  gloom 
they  crawl  and  creep  into  the  ray  of  glory,  and  then  pass 
again  into  obscure  repose. 

I  went  out  to  see  the  lake  from  other  points.  The 
town  sloped  down  steeply  into  the  waves.  Even  by  the 
moon's  light  the  walls  and  towers  could  be  seen  to  have 
great  fissures  in  them,  caused,  as  I  learnt,  by  the  earth- 
quake of  1837,  and  no  light  of  any  kind  was  seen  within 
the  city.  It  might  indeed  have  been  regarded  as  belonging 
to  a  people  who,  like  to  those  of  Nineveh,  left  the  world 
centuries  ago. 

Returning  and  seeing  how  important  it  was  not  to 
disturb  my  worn-out  comrade,  I  decided  against  the 
attempt  then  to  represent  that  moon  enthroned  among  the 
stars  and  all  they  shone  upon,  but  quietly  lay  down  on 
my  trestle-bed,  having  so  arranged  the  tent  door  that  I 
could  see  the  lake.  As  I  looked  the.  sweet  composure  of 
rocked  babyhood  came  back  to  me,  and  so  I  fell  asleep. 

The  sun  was  nearly  on  the  horizon  before  we  were 
willing  to  stir,  and  then  special  considerations  induced  us 
to  give  up  the  swim  in  the  lake  which  we  had  promised 
ourselves.  The  conditions  of  our  situation  were  favour- 
able in  that  there  was  a  complete  absence  of  bedouin. 
They  had  all  fled,  and  we  were  free  to  go  anywhere. 
In  my  saunter  before  breakfast  I  climbed  up  the  broken 
masonry  of  a  tower  to  overlook  the  city.  All  was  still- 
ness till,  turning  my  gaze  around  to  the  burial  field, 
I  observed  two  men  rise  up  from  a  finished  task  and 
make  for  a  southern  gate.  They  were  traceable  through 
the  rectangular  streets  till  they  entered  the  door  of  a  house. 
After  a  short  while  they  reappeared  in  some  way  en- 
cumbered with  a  burden.  They  had  converted  a  bed  into 
a  bier,  and  this  they  carried  back  to  the  graveyard,  two 
others  the  while  crossing  them  on  a  similar  errand.  As  I 
stood  a  man  came  close  to  me,  and  I  asked  how  many 
people  remained  in  the  town. 


• 


48  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  n 

"  None  alive,"  he  replied  ;  "  the  yellow  wind  has  eaten 
them  all,"  and  there  was  the  Jook  on  him  of  helpless  sub- 
mission which  Defoe  describes  so  well. 

"  The  yellow  wind  ? "  I  repeated.  "  Can  you 
smell  it  ?  " 

"  Can  you  not?  T'  he  inquired,  and  I  could  realise  that 
since  the  sun  had  risen  there  had  been  a  peculiar  musty 
scent. 

From  where  I  stood  the  whole  of  the  shores  of  the 
Jake  could  be  traced.  I  wished  to  see  the  country  of  the 
Gadarenes,  but  I  could  not  make  out  any  violently  steep 
place.  On  the  right  there  were  the  heights  of  Migdol  ; 
turning  north,  I  saw  the  entrance  of  the  Jordan,  with  all 
the  spread  of  the  land  to  west  and  east,  where  the  sacred 
Life  was  spent  and  the  patient  training  of  the  disciples 
conducted.  Miracles  could  only  have  convincing  value 
to  onlookers,  but  the  words  of  love  and  peace  uttered  by 
the  great  Alleviator  of  sorrows  still  perform  miracles 
before  our  eyes,  slowly  though  this  be. 

I  descended  from  my  post  of  reflection  to  find  that 
breakfast  was  scanty,  for  no  eggs  could  be  bought,  and 
the  prospects  for  dinner  were  very  bad.  We  wanted  to 
make  the  most  of  the  day,  and  told  Issa  that  we  should 
be  satisfied  with  whatever  he  could  get ;  and  then  abandon- 
ing for  the  nonce  an  outline  drawing  which  I  had  begun, 
we  rode  to  the  south,  past  the  burial-ground  and  the 
thermal  baths  of  Herod,  and  gained  the  very  outlet  of  the 
Jordan,  where  we  prowled  about,  my  friend  photographing 
while  I  sketched.  As  I  was  sketching,  we  discovered 
that  we  had  attracted  the  attention  of  Arabs  on  the  eastern 
side,  and  that  a  party  was  moving  down  towards  us.  We 
had  no  motive  for  prolonging  our  stay,  so  we  remounted 
and  rode  back  to  camp. 

Here  we  were  received  with  more  apologies  than  food 
for  dinner,  and  with  flat  rebellion  from  the  muleteers. 
The  mukary  said  if  we  liked  to  be  eaten  up  by  the  yellow 
wind  we  could,  but  that  for  his  part  he  must  and  would 
leave  the  place  that  night.  We  pointed  out  that  a  true 


VOL.    II 


50  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Mahomedan  ought  to  be  more  resigned,  but  the  utmost 
we  could  get  from  him  was  the  concession  of  an  hour 
for  eating  and  consultation.  Graham  again  was  com- 
pelled to  prolong  his  journey,  for  not  an  animal  of  any 
kind  could  be  got  to  carry  back  his  camera,  and  so 
we  were  unexpectedly  travelling  together  for  a  further 
stage. 

When  remounted  I  never  felt  less  disposed  to  be  lively. 
We  had  still  an  hour's  sunshine  and  the  whole  scene  was 
one  of  sweet  repose.  I  tried  to  divert  thought  from  the 
chilly  quiver  that  shook  my  frame.  "  Let  us  have  a  good 
scamper,'1  I  said  to  my  friend. 

"  Agreed,"  he  replied  merrily.  Every  one  who  had  seen 
him  on  horseback  knew  what  to  ride  like  a  centaur  must 
be,  and  he  had  a  good  white  steed.  Away  my  horse  went 
too  ;  never  did  I  less  enjoy  a  ride  when  starting — it  was 
difficult  to  avoid  toppling  over — but  as  action  warmed 
my  blood  the  evil  vein  lessened,  and  we  reined  in  at  the 
distance  of  two  miles  with  all  my  chilliness  gone. 

A  novel  scene  made  me  slacken  pace.  Between  us 
and  the  lake  was  a  large  field  of  ripe  corn,  and  at  intervals 
of  about  two  hundred  yards  stages  were  erected.  On 
each  platform  was  a  man  nearly  or  entirely  nude,  standing 
on  the  alert  with  a  sling,  and  with  this  he  aimed  at  all 
birds  which  attempted  to  alight  within  reach.  I  reserved 
it  as  a  subject  for  a  statue  in  the  future,  but  ere  I  could 
get  the  opportunity,  Leighton  had  seen  the  same  incident 
in  Nubia,  and  made  it  the  theme  of  one  of  his  admirable 
pictures.  I  have  failed  to  discover  any  reference  to  this 
custom  in  the  Bible. 

Happily  it  was  still  quite  light  when  we  reached  the 
spring  of  Capernaum.  There  was  no  room  for  disap- 
pointment in  looking  into  its  bubbling  waters,  which  were 
clear  as  crystal,  engemming  the  pebbles  which  flickered 
below,  and  harbouring  shoals  of  sheeny  fish,  while  around 
grew  beautiful  flowers  and  luscious  fruit.  It  was  a  worthy 
amblem  of  the  spiritual  spring  of  life,  which  had  its  source 
in  this  region.  Generations  had  been  refreshed  by  it  as 


ii         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       51 

they  rested  in  going  on  their  journey  ;  the  fountain,  in 
truth,  was  indeed  a  paragon  of  purity.  Josephus  in  his 
legend  of  its  underground  communication  with  Egypt, 
and  of  Egypt's  fish  swimming  in  its  waters,  testifies  to  the 
marvellous  feeling  which  it  inspires. 

Capernaum  was  nigh  this  spot,  and  the  ground  was 
covered  with  high  growths,  but  we  had  no  time  to  search 
for  ruins  ;  turning  our  faces  from  the  plain,  we  were  soon 
overtaken  by  sundown  and  gloom,  not,  however,  before 
we  had  seen  some  remarkable  caves  with  Gothic-like 
openings  in  the  chasm  below.  I  had  only  temporarily 
got  over  my  pain,  and  could  not,  during  the  long  dark 
climb  up  to  Safid,  forget  my  discomfort,  nor  the  convic- 
tion that  had  I  stayed  another  hour  at  Tiberias  I  should 
have  been  plague-stricken.  I  did  not  recover  altogether 
for  six  weeks,  not  indeed  till  I  had  landed  at  Marseilles. 

On  going  forth  from  the  tent  the  next  morning,  I  was 
surprised  to  see  how  the  altitude  of  the  level  we  had 
reached  dominated  all  the  land  we  had  passed  through. 
It  was  indeed  the  "city  built  on  a  hill."  Tabor  was  far 
beneath  the  horizon,  all  was  below  us  as  it  might  have 
been  from  a  balloon,  and  nearly  every  tract  seemed  as 
sterile  as  the  face  of  the  moon.  To  the  north  the  view 
was  less  open. 

Here  Graham  and  I  had  our  last  breakfast  together  ; 
he  was  to  go  across  to  Khaifa  to  catch  the  steamer,  while 
I  was  to  take  on  his  servant  Issa  with  me  to  the  Lebanon, 
and  to  send  him  back  from  Beyrout.  Before  we  ate  our 
breakfast  the  tent  was  struck  that  we  might  have  a  long 
day  for  our  journey  ;  but  my  friend  went  away  to  get 
money  changed,  not  returning  till  about  two  o'clock  with 

,  O  7  O 

ardent  apologies.  We  exchanged  parting  words,  while  a 
crowd  stood  by  watching  us  with  great  interest.  We  had 
travelled  much  together  in  the  last  year  and  a  half,  and 
as  I  shook  hands  with  James  Graham,  I  felt  more  than  I 
was  able  to  speak. 


CHAPTER    III 

1855-1856 

The  eye  sees  what  it  brings  with  it  the  power  to  see. 

Without  eyesight  indeed  the  task  might  be  hard.  The  blind  or 
purblind  man  travels  from  Dan  to  Beersheeba  and  finds  it  all  barren. 
— CARLYLE. 

PURSUING  my  solitary  way,  there  seemed  at  first  nothing 
to  distract  moodiness,  and  I  rode  on,  taking  stock  of  the 
thoughts  I  had  gathered  in  Syria,  of  the  friends  I  had 
made  there,  and  of  the  work  I  had  done,  and  this  led  me 
into  a  reverie  about  my  many  much-loved  friends  at 
home.  I  was  awakened  from  this  at  the  edge  of  a  pre- 
cipitous cliff ;  for  I  had  again  come  to  the  ravine  which 
divides  the  whole  tableland  of  Syria  and  Moab,  making 
the  gulf  which  reaches  from  the  north  to  the  south,  and 
I  had  here  to  descend  the  western  brink. 

I  had  never  divined  till  then  one  use  of  a  pack  animal's 
tail.  The  heavily  laden  mule  had  to  drop  its  fore-feet 
over  so  deep  a  step  that  its  centre  of  gravity  was  in 
peril  ;  a  counterpoise  was  therefore  urgently  needed. 
The  muleteer  then  removed  from  the  load  his  choice 
hubble-bubble,  and  with  his  disengaged  hand  took  a  firm 
grip  of  the  mule's  tail.  The  animal,  appreciating  this 
attention,  then  felt  its  way  to  the  very  verge  of  the  cliff, 
while  the  muleteer  sloped  back  to  the  most  oblique  possible 
line,  and  the  well-trained  brute  cautiously  advanced  his 
hoofs  and  then  slipped  both  over  the  edge  at  the  same 

52 


CH.  in    PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     53 

moment  :  he  had  dropped  about  a  foot.  Great  skill  was 
needed  on  the  part  of  the  mule  and  the  master  to  enable 
the  former  to  turn  aside  in  the  direction  of  the  escalier 
track  and  leave  space  for  the  descent  of  the  hind-legs  ; 
all  this  time  the  man  held  on  until  he  was  convinced  that 
the  animal  had  recovered  his  equilibrium  without  further 
ballasting. 

Notwithstanding  all  the  art  used,  it  seemed  a  marvel 
when  the  leading  beast  manoeuvred  successfully  to  turn 
himself  and  advance  out  of  the  way  of  the  others  ;  and 
when  these  in  order  all  managed  to  escape  overbalancing, 
and  disappearing  from  further  service,  we  alighted  from 
the  risky  descent  on  to  a  safe  slope  where  we  had  no 
longer  to  watch  our  footsteps.  I  looked  forward  and  saw 
the  whole  height  of  Hermon  from  its  base  to  its  snow- 
mantled  apex.  At  its  feet  lay  the  lake  of  Merom  and  the 
Jordan-divided  plain,  the  water  everywhere  reflecting 
the  varying  hues  of  the  mountain  from  snowy  height 
to  verdured  base  lit  by  the  enriching  sun.  To  the 
north,  raised  up  above  the  rounded  heights  which  stood 
between  us  and  Damascus,  was  the  targe  of  Anti-Lebanon, 
amethystine  and  cerulean.  It  extended  its  chord -like 
musical  accompaniment,  making  itself  a  background  when- 
ever there  was  an  opening  in  the  nearer  hills.  Turning 
again  towards  the  east,  each  moment  new  perfections 
revealed  themselves.  The  freshness  of  the  borders  of  the 
hidden  Jordan  and  of  the  meadows  about  the  eastern 
coasts  of  the  lake  were  all  rendered  ethereal  by  the  clear 
eventide  air,  and  on  the  incline  raised  up  towards  us  was 
a  large  tract  of  Indian  corn  ready  for  the  harvest.  I  hung 
behind  to  revel  in  the  intense  delectability  of  the  scene, 
and  when  my  company  of  dark  mules  and  men  in  rich 
brown  costumes  with  deep  crimson  tarbooshes  passed  in 
procession  against  the  enchanting  distance,  I  longed  to 
have  a  friend  at  hand  whom  I  could  make  a  participant 
in  my  enjoyment.  Seeing  Issa,  and  thinking  that  he 
deserved  to  have  his  attention  awakened  to  the  intoxicat- 
ing fascinations  of  the  view  which  he  was  passing  in  a 


54  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

perfectly  impassive  mood,  I  beckoned  to  him.  "  O  Issa," 
I  exclaimed,  "men  often  fail  to  observe  how  beautiful  God's 
works  are,  but  I  will  not  let  you  pass  the  heavenly  vision 
in  front  of  us  without  charging  you  to  look  upon  it  !  It 
will  not  last  long,  the  sun  will  soon  pass  away,  and  perhaps 
we  shall  never  be  here  again.  Look  !  does  it  not  seem  as 
though  at  last  all  the  wondrous  powers  of  creation  have 
met  together  in  this  spot  of  earth,  to  show  at  one  moment 
how  transcendent  is  the  loveliness  of  the  world  ?  How 
worthy  the  view  might  be  of  some  region  of  heaven  ! 
Think  how  all  the  angels  may  have  brought  each  his  most 
precious  contribution  in  order  to  make  this  noble  picture  ! 
See  how  the  firmament  above  us  is  sapphire,  and  how  it 
melts  into  topaz  and  to  amber  behind  the  mountain  line  ; 
and  then  the  mountain  itself  is  clear  lapis  lazuli,  infused 
by  the  sun  into  ruby  and  fire,  except  where  the  milky 
snow,  whiter  than  any  fuller  could  whiten  it,  glows  in  the 
sun  and  intensifies  every  other  gem.  See  how  in  the  plain 
the  water  borders  appear  enamelled  with  emeralds,  how 
the  water  is  very  jasper,  and  all  the  preciousness  above 
is  dropped  molten  into  it,  and  the  diamond  stream  of  the 
Jordan  carries  its  burden  of  colour  along.  Regard  too 
the  glory  of  these  golden  fields  in  front.  Turn  now 
and  see  the  Tyrian  purple  in  that  broad  tiara  of  Lebanon  ; 
and  then,  in  front  of  all,  how  rich  and  grand  are  the  deep 
colours  of  the  muleteers,  and  see  how  much  more  celestial 
the  hues  beyond  appear  from  the  harmonious  contrast." 
I  dropped  my  hands  in  their  idolatrous  worship,  adding, 
"  Bless  your  stars,  O  Issa,  as  I  do  mine,  that  you  have 
been  permitted  thus  to  see  the  effulgence  of  the  gods  !  " 

As  he  turned  his  eyes  from  scrutiny  of  my  face  he 
looked  almost  angry  ;  with  his  not  very  long  sight,  he 
blinked  at  the  landscape  far  and  near.  When  he  turned 
to  me  again  it  was  to  say,  "  Ya,  Khowagha,  if  you  went 
close  up  to  the  different  things,  you  would  find  they 
were  only  rock,  and  dirt,  and  water,  with  common  maize 
and  trees." 

I  did  not  take  so  long  as  he  had  done  to   realise  the 


in        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD        55 

situation,  and  I  said  resignedly,  "  Yes  !  yes !  I  am  a 
madman."  And  he  was  proud  that  he  had  converted 
me. 

He  went  on,  and  henceforth  I  hugged  my  enjoyment 
to  my  own  bosom.  Every  turn  in  the  road  was  a  fresh 
bar  in  the  melody,  and  it  subsided  only  when  an  ashen 
twilight  invaded  the  scene.  Issa's  triumph  over  me  had 
made  him  markedly  reserved  and  haughty  in  temper  for 
the  remainder  of  the  day.  How  difficult  it  is  for  a 
trespasser  to  reingratiate  himself  with  an  offended  critic  ! 
The  journey  which  we  had  contemplated  to  Banias  was 
too  long  for  our  half-day.  As  we  came  near  the  waters 
of  Melhaha,  we  descried  a  party  of  horsemen  in  the 
distance  coming  towards  us.  We  waited  therefore  before 
settling  ourselves,  but  all  apprehension  was  at  rest  when 
we  could  make  out  that  they  wore  European  dress.  They 
proved  to  be  two  Americans  on  their  way  to  Jerusalem, 
and  we  were  both  camping  at  the  same  spot.  Before  my 
tent  received  its  furniture  and  bedding,  I  took  the  pre- 
caution to  turn  over  the  stones,  and  discovered  eight 
scorpions,  which  I  had  to  turn  out,  with  what  was  un- 
pardonable tyranny,  according  to  the  benevolent  theory 
that  foreigners  should  never  dispossess  natives. 

Waking  betimes,  I  heard  enough  overhead  to  make 
me  certain  that  the  pond  near  us  must  be  the  resort  of 
wild-fowl,  and  I  sallied  forth  while  it  was  still  dark  to 
secure  some  for  our  often  monotonous  cuisine.  It  needed 
but  little  skill  to  shoot  them  as  they  flew  up,  but  some 
fell  into  the  water  and  I  had  to  take  trouble  to  get  them. 
I  came  back  rejoicing  in  the  acquisition,  and  thinking 
somewhat  that  this  evidence  of  practical  sense  would 
negative  the  unfavourable  impression  I  had  made  upon 
Issa  yesterday.  I  told  him  we  would  take  some  of  the 
ducks  to  Mr.  Wurtabett,  upon  whom  I  had  promised  to 
call  at  Hasbeya.  It  was  easy  to  see  that  Issa  was  not  in 
good  humour,  but  tor  what  reason  I  thought  it  needless 
to  inquire.  After  breakfast  I  ventured  to  refer  to  the 
subject,  but  he  made  it  evident  that  he  had  more  pressing 


56  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

matters  to  attend  to,  and  I  did  not  see  any  special  reason 
for  deciding  how  many  birds  we  wanted,  and  how  many 
would  remain  to  give  away,  but  when  all  was  packed  I 
asked  what  he  had  done  with  the  birds. 

"  I  have  thrown  them  away,"  he  said. 

"  Why  ?  "  I  inquired. 

"  Why  ?  "  he  returned.      "  Of  what  use  are  they  ?  " 

"  They  are  simply  of  use  for  eating,"  was  my  response. 

"  We  are  not  heathen  ;  no  Christians  could  eat  animals 
whose  blood  had  not  been  allowed  to  pour  into  the  ground, 
for  the  blood  is  the  life,  and  it  is  forbidden  to  eat  the 
blood.  You  should  have  cut  the  heads  off,  and  allowed 
the  life  to  escape." 

But,  wishing  to  discover  whether  in  the  Oriental  mind 
the  phrase  "  the  blood  is  the  life  "  was  an  allowance  that 
all  animals  have  souls,  I  objected,  "  You  are  treating  a 
Mosaic  ordinance  as  though  Christianity  had  never  been 
adopted  by  the  outside  world.  We  in  England  pay  no 
regard  whatever  to  the  law  you  quote." 

It  was  an  unfortunate  admission.  His  temper 
mounted  to  his  face  ;  he  could  scarcely  find  words,  but 
at  last  he  spoke  like  a  passionate  child.  "  Then  I  deny 
that  you  are  Christians,  and  we  Christians  repudiate  such 
sectarians." 

I  pleaded  that  he  must  not  take  me  as  an  authority  on 
the  Western  creed.  I  suggested  that  he  should  find  the 
birds  and  bring  them  with  us  to  the  Syrian  convert,  who 
was  a  clergyman  of  the  English  Church,  and  who  should 
decide  whether  such  food  was  forbidden.  Accordingly 
Issa  was  prevailed  upon,  sulkily  enough  certainly,  to 
recover  the  birds,  and  accompany  me  in  a  gallop  after 
the  mules,  which  had  meanwhile  been  getting  forward 
on  the  road  to  Cassarea-Philippi. 

O  knight-errantry,  how  delightful  are  thy  varia- 
tions !  Our  stage  that  day  was  a  short  one,  and  before 
mid-day  we  came  to  the  approaches  of  the  city  which  has 
such  enchantment  of  Pagan  and  Christian  history  connected 
with  it.  First  lay  in  our  steps  the  outside  arms  of  the 


in        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD        57 

Jordan,  the  deep  shores  fringed  with  shrubs  and  luxuriant 
plants,  so  much  so  that  in  many  parts  from  a  distance 
there  were  no  other  traces  of  the  stream  than  indicated 
by  this  thick  border.  My  horse  led  the  way  through  this 
outer  belt,  and  plunged  down,  standing  thrilled  through- 
out his  whole  frame  (as  horses  will  when  first  in  a  journey 
they  dash  into  a  bracing  stream)  ;  settled  thus  adeep,  he 
played  with  tossing  head  and  curled  lip,  splashing  about 
the  water  many  times  ere  he  thrust  his  nose  in  to  drink 
his  fill.  With  arms  free,  I  gathered  a  long  blossoming 
bough  of  oleander  and  saved  some  ripe  seed  for  Millais' 
mother,  who  had  now  left  Gower  Street  for  a  cottage  and 
garden  at  Kingston.  The  rivulets  were  many,  and  always 
delightful  to  ford.  Soon  we  reached  an  ancient  bridge 
over  deeper  runnings.  The  old  pavement  and  parapet 
still  remained,  and  farther  on  we  came  upon  links  of 
an  aqueduct  of  sculptured  marble.  We  were  entering 
Cassarea-Philippi  at  this  point.  The  sparkling  water  was 
flowing  through  the  marble  channel,  and  at  every  opening 
welling  over  and  tumbling  about  among  carved  ornaments, 
and  varnishing  them  into  exquisite  finish  and  richness  that 
gave  such  delight  as  no  one  could  conceive  who  had 
not  lived  for  seasons  in  arid  regions.  Having  chosen  a 
camping-place,  I  wandered  about  on  foot,  the  better  to 
trace  the  nature  of  the  remains.  Ascending  one  hundred 
paces  a  steep  mound  of  earth  decked  with  rich  growth, 
my  feet  came  abruptly  to  a  cliff.  Looking  down  there 
was  a  wall  of  perfect  architectural  work,  descending  fifty 
feet  into  the  stream  below.  Seeing  how  much  lay  buried, 
I  thought  of  the  statue  of  Christ  curing  the  poor  woman, 
which  Eusebius  said  the  pagans  had  erected  in  this  city,  and 
which  he  declared  still  stood  here  in  his  day,  to  celebrate 
the  miracle  performed  in  the  neighbourhood,  as  the  act  of 
a  God  come  down  from  heaven  ;  and  although  there  is 
reason  for  concluding  that  whatever  the  group  represented, 
it  was  destroyed  by  Moslems,  I  thought  what  a  splendid 
field  there  was  for  some  one  to  explore,  when  the  Turk 
could  be  made  to  withhold  his  dog-in-the-manger  hindrance 


5 8  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

to  intelligent  research.  It  has  still  to  be  done,  and  it  is 
more  needful  than  ever  that  such  remains  as  may  exist 
here  and  there  should  be  exhumed  and  compared,  for  with 
many  pieces  of  the  puzzle  already  in  hand  we  are  liable 
to  form  wrong  conclusions  as  to  the  whole  pattern. 

The  cave  of  Pan  was  a  worthy  cradle  for  even  a  river 
of  such  interest  as  the  Jordan,  and  the  old  name 
Panius  recommended  itself  to  my  ears  as  that  of  the  city 
rather  than  that  given  by  Herod  in  honour  of  Augustus 
Caesar. 

Our  peace  at  Banias  was  soon  disturbed  by  anxiety 
about  a  stranger  whom  we  had  taken  under  our  care,  a 
poor  boy  of  about  thirteen,  whom  I  had  first  observed  as 
an  addition  to  our  train  on  leaving  Nablous.  I  agreed 
to  his  continuance  with  us,  seeing  no  reason  to  distrust 
his  story  that  he  was  returning  from  Jerusalem  to  his 
widowed  mother  at  Damascus,  from  which  city  he  had 
been  tempted  to  accompany  the  soldiers  by  the  story  that 
the  streets  of  Jerusalem  were  paved  with  gold,  and  the 
holy  edifices  built  of  priceless  jewels.  Having  found  the 
report  a  delusion,  and  having  fared  very  badly,  like  the 
prodigal  son  of  old  he  had  determined  to  return  home. 
On  the  journey  to  Nablous  his  hardships  had  been  so 
unbearable  that  the  chance  of  our  protection  on  the  road, 
which  Issa,  subject  to  my  approval,  had  promised,  had 
been  eagerly  accepted. 

While  Issa  and  I  had  been  discussing  the  question  of 
the  ducks,  we  had  concluded  that  the  boy  had  gone  on 
with  the  muleteers,  while  they  surmised  that  he  was  with 
us,  but  when  all  was  in  order  at  our  encampment  at 
Banias,  we  learned  that  he  had  been  last  seen  by  the 
baggage  party  loitering  as  if  for  our  company.  Thus 
he  had  been  missed  by  both.  We  sent  out  scouts  for  him, 
and  late  in  the  day  he  was  brought  in.  He  had  not  seen 
us  till  we  were  galloping  far  out  of  reach,  and  then  he  had 
lost  his  way  ;  he  climbed  up  the  mountain-side  to  see  the 
road,  and  there,  hungry  and  disheartened,  he  had  sat  and 
wept.  He  came  down  in  so  timid  a  mood  that,  seeing 


in        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD        59 

our  searchers  about,  he  had  at  first  hidden  himself,  but 
from  his  lair  had  fortunately  been  able  to  distinguish 
the  mukary  and  his  man,  and  so  he  was  brought  in  on  the 
donkey. 

During  this  journey  I  had  as  usual  relied  for  protection 
only  upon  the  gun  and  revolver  I  carried  myself;  to  have 
supplied  weapons  to  any  other  of  the  party  would  have 
been  doubly  foolish,  as  at  all  times  Arab  servants  handle 
them  so  clumsily  that  no  fellow-traveller  is  safe,  and  in 
case  of  attack  the  first  idea  they  act  upon  is  for  their  own 
safety  to  deliver  up  their  arms  to  the  enemy.  At  the 
slow  pace  necessary  for  the  protection  of  the  baggage  I 
had  found  it  a  relief  to  get  off  and  walk,  and  then  I 
wandered  about  after  fowls  of  the  air  and  any  small  deer 
of  incautious  nature.  Seeing  the  boy  footsore,  I  allowed 
him  to  take  my  place  in  the  empty  saddle,  but  the  ignoble 
creation  which  bars  brotherly  love  in  the  East  between 
franghis  and  natives  soon  provoked  exclusiveness,  and 
forced  me  for  the  last  day  or  two  to  leave  the  boy  to 
walk. 

A  truly  extraordinary  contrast  it  was  to  see  the  notion 
possessed  by  the  modern  dwellers  in  the  place  and  that  of 
their  historic  predecessors.  In  the  centre  of  the  remains 
of  the  palatial  city  the  swamp  produced  stalwart  reeds,  and 
the  descendants  of  the  dwellers  in  marble  palaces  chose 
these  as  posts  for  their  habitations.  About  fifteen  feet 
from  above  the  surface  of  the  water  was  constructed  a 
stage  secured  on  four  brakes  with  cane-woven  sides  to  it, 
and  a  covering  attached  likewise  above  ;  into  this  nest  the 
family  climbed  up  the  poles.  At  such  an  elevation  they 
were  saved  from  the  attack  of  wild  beasts  or  noxious  reptiles, 
the  children  needed  no  rocking  night  or  day,  for  the  wind 
was  a  constant  nurse,  and  yet  the  population  did  not  seem 
numerous,  for  I  saw  evidence  of  only  three  or  four  families. 
These  few  people  are  certainly  not  the  only  descendants  of 
the  once  populous  place,  and  the  question  arises  where  the 
children  of  the  ancient  dwellers  in  this  city,  as  also  of 
others  once  thickly  crowded,  shall  be  looked  for. 


60  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

It  was  now  the  latter  part  of  November,  the  days 
closed  early  and  the  nights  became  chilly.  After  supper  I 
set  myself  to  scribbling  in  my  tent  ;  on  concluding  I 
noticed  that  the  company  outside  had  ceased  in  their  often 
long-continued  chatter  and  hubble-bubbling  ;  I  then,  as 
quietly  as  possible,  disrobed  myself,  and  as  usual,  in  getting 
under  my  blankets,  I  arranged  my  gun  with  the  stock 
between  my  legs,  and  the  barrels  under  my  head  on  the 
pillow.  When  the  light  was  out  I  was  thinking  over  the 
marvels  of  the  place,  and,  with  the  snoring  of  the  men 
around  their  fire,  I  fancied  there  was  some  altogether  dis- 
tinct noise  of  a  shuffling  movement.  I  then  raised  myself 
noiselessly  to  peer  between  the  top  of  the  skirt  and  the  frill 
of  the  roof  of  my  tent.  Within  two  feet  of  me  was  a 
great  hyena,  astride  of  a  slumbering  man,  with  nozzle  bent 
down  touching  the  sleeper's  open  lips,  and  at  the  moment, 
the  beast  drew  in  his  breath,  eager  as  a  hungry  babe  and 
loud  as  Behemoth  ;  the  man  only  turned.  Dashing  out 
of  the  tent  with  less  stealthiness  than  impatience  I 
disturbed  the  foul  animal,  which  trundled  along  out  of 
the  fire-glow,  fast  as  he  could  move,  to  where  other 
denizens  of  the  wilds  were  ramping  scared  by  our  fire  from 
nearer  approach.  The  report  of  my  gun  changed  all  into 
wakefulness  for  five  minutes,  for  after  the  echoes  came 
the  questionings  of  birds,  beasts,  and  men.  The  hyena 
had  escaped,  leaving  his  crimson  trail  on  the  ground,  and 
we  returned  to  sleep  with  renewed  confidence  against 
molestation. 

The  next  day  we  went  along  by  the  upper  branch  of 
the  Jordan  to  Hasbeya.  We  had  on  our  left  the  mount 
"Al  Ferdous"-  —  that  is  to  say,  "Paradise";  why  so  named, 
could  not  be  guessed,  unless  it  be  that  it  seemed  forbidden 
to  the  hungry  or  thirsty  sons  of  Adam,  and  that  in  its 
perfectly  barren  way  it  was  beautiful,  being  unjagged  in 
form,  and  spotless  and  pure  in  tint  of  its  virgin  rock. 

Issa  had  escaped  further  argument  over  the  continuity 
of  the  Mosaic  prohibition  respecting  the  ducks,  by  losing 
them  from  his  saddle  on  our  scrambling  ride  from 


in        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       61 

Melhaha.  It  was  no  trouble  to  me  to  be  saved  further 
discussion  on  the  matter,  as  his  master,  from  his  connec- 
tion with  the  Jewish  Mission,  would  not  wish  to  have 
raised  unpleasant  prejudices  on  the  part  of  the  natives 
against  European  latitudinarianism  in  religious  principles. 

While  taking  my  walks  in  Hasbeya,  I  was  surprised  at 
finding  sculptured  relief  representing  animals  (camels  and, 
I  think,  elephants)  above  the  door  of  the  principal  palace 


?aK» 


IV.  H.  H. 


in 


the  great  piazza.  While  I  stood  speculating  as  to 
its  origin,  the  muezzin  priest  came  down  from  the  minaret 
and  joined  me.  I  asked  him  as  to  its  builders,  and  to  my 
surprise  he  said  at  once  that  the  founders  of  the  Moslem 
family  then  living  in  the  palace  had  erected  it,  and  placed  the 
sculptured  decoration  there.  I  objected  that  in  Syria  there 
was  no  known  instance  of  Moslems  representing  animals 
in  ornamentation,  that  it  was  only  in  Persia  and  Morocco 
that  earlier  artistic  instincts  had  made  Mohammed's 
caution  against  the  representations  of  living  beings  not  an 


62  PRE-RAPHAEL1TISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

absolute  interdiction  ;  but  he  evidently  did  not  know 
enough  of  Mahomedan  dogma  to  understand  the  point, 
and  I  found  that  he  had  never  suspected  there  could  be 
any  doubt  that  a  building  which  was  the  pride  of  the 
place,  could  have  been  raised  by  other  than  people  of  his 
own  religion.  His  warmth  convinced  me  that  it  was  not 
well  to  push  inquiry  further.  Beyond  question  the 
building  was  of  crusading  origin. 

In  the  north  about  Damascus  I  knew  that  Moslem 
intolerance  was  then  even  less  checked  than  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood of  Jerusalem,  but  I  little  suspected  that  I  had 
now  entered  upon  ground  where  in  three  years  more  any 
who  would  not  abjure  Christ  would  be  treated  as  their 
predecessors  had  been  in  the  days  of  the  first  Conquest. 

On  the  mountains  beyond  when  encamped  on  the 
height  at  Dahr  al  Akmar  the  cold  was  so  wintry  that  the 
chance  of  getting  over  Lebanon  to  the  cedars  seemed 
precarious.  From  this  point  towards  the  metropolis  of 
the  ancient  kingdom  of  Syria  our  descent  was  made  in 
the  face  of  a  gritty  and  frozen  wind  which  was  very 
discomforting.  The  next  stage  was  a  short  and  de- 
scending one  into  the  plain  ;  the  ground  about  was 
cultivated  as  gardens,  the  trees  were  full  and  even 
massive,  the  water  flowed  with  royal  largess  over  the 
road,  even  a  landlord  ought  to  have  been  satisfied  with 
the  nature  of  the  plain.  As  an  artist,  I  was  dis- 
appointed. No  mass  of  buildings  showed  above  the  line 
of  the  city  wall,  and  having  the  designs  for  Tennyson's 
poems  already  in  consideration,  I  had  counted  upon  finding 
some  delightful  external  views  of  the  city  appropriate.  I 
came  to  the  entrance  of  the  "  Street  called  straight,"  and 
inside  all  was  rich  with  unexpected  surprises.  Economy 
and  further  experience  in  nomadic  life  were  matters  ot 
importance,  so  I  had  determined  to  go  to  the  khan,  but 
when  I  saw  the  apartments  available,  I  turned  to  the  hotel, 
which  after  three  weeks  of  wild  tent  life  was  truly 
luxurious.  My  bedroom  was  beautifully  embellished  with 
arabesque  design  ;  every  rafter  was  artistically  decorated 


in        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       63 

and  harmoniously  coloured.  I  loitered  some  time 
admiring  all,  lingered  on  the  roof  and  in  the  courtyard, 
and  then  I  had  to  get  money  for  Issa  and  the  muleteers. 

Soon  I  came  into  pleasant  contact  with  the  Consul-General 
— afterwards  Sir  Henry  Wood — who  was  full  of  informa- 
tion and  anecdote  ;  he  was  at  the  time  engaged  in  enrolling 
recruits  for  the  Bashi-Bazouk  service  in  the  Crimea  ;  each 
man  on  being  passed  at  Constantinople  received  a  handsome 
number  of  English  sovereigns,  and  was  then  consigned  to 
General  Pearson.  That  all  Orientals  look  alike  is  only 
true,  as  it  is  with  sheep,  to  the  unpractised  eye.  Mr. 
Wood  was  not  easily  deceived,  and  had  recognised 
among  new  recruits,  notwithstanding  a  fuller  skin, 
several  whom  he  had  sent  on  only  two  months  before. 
On  writing  to  apprise  the  authorities  at  Stamboul,  it 
transpired  that  the  Consul's  letter  first  awakened  atten- 
tion to  the  fact  of  a  desertion  which  on  further 
examination  proved  to  be  quite  general.  Our  interview 
being  ended,  Consul  Wood  went  off  to  measure  six 
hundred  mules  destined  for  the  Crimea. 

I  was  too  much  pressed  for  time  to  take  any  but  mental 
impressions  of  this  ancient  and  most  picturesque  city : 
lying  away  from  any  line  of  road  frequented  by  Europeans 
in  that  day,  it  had  escaped  the  rage  for  improvements  and 
remained  richer  in  orientalisms  than  any  other  town  I  had 
seen  ;  but  I  heard  that  two  French  silk  mills  had  recently 
been  opened  in  the  neighbourhood,  and  already,  as  was 
seen  in  the  market,  the  superb  traditional  patterns, 
exquisite  in  design  and  gorgeously  harmonious  in  colour, 
were  stricken  and  doomed  :  for,  either  from  the  idea  that 
superiority  in  mechanics  is  supposed  to  be  accompanied  by 
greater  excellence  in  taste,  or  from  the  greater  attractiveness 
of  meretricious  design  as  seen  in  the  barbarous  gimcracks 
of  Europe,  the  new  produce  was  and  is  preferred  to  the 
old.  The  lowness  of  my  purse  would  not  allow  me  to 
make  many  purchases  of  rare  things,  and  I  did  but  roam 
about,  indulging  my  staring  propensities  for  four  days, 
denying  myself  all  time-taxing  work. 

-  O  O 


64  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

Of  the  Moslem  boy  and  his  mother  we  never  heard 
after  he  left  us  at  the  gates  to  find  his  home.  Years 
later,  I  trust  he  said  some  words  of  expostulation  to 
his  fellows  engaged  in  the  massacre,  and  that  at  least 
he  did  not  forget  that  he  had  been  helped  in  the  hour  of 
distress  by  an  infidel. 

After  I  had  paid  my  bill,  in  which  attendance  was 
heavily  charged  for,  the  landlord's  brother  and  others 
pestered  me  so  effectively  for  additional  backshish  that  I 
found  when  I  had  left  that  I  had  been  fleeced  even  beyond 
measure.  Winding  up  the  western  mountains  and  looking 
back  at  the  town,  I  was  surprised  to  find  that  pictorially 
the  prospect  appeared  less  an  earnest  of  the  perfect  heaven 
than  the  prophet  Mohammed  had  found  it.  The  plain  was 
full  of  fruitfulness,  with  signs  of  having  been  the  home 
of  prosperous  and  happy  men  for  periods  long  enough  to 
leave  their  mark  upon  it,  but  being  flat,  it  was  as  a  map 
looked  down  upon,  and  withal  scarcely  coloured,  for  it 
chanced  this  morning  that  a  thick  haze  turned  all  to  grey. 
Proceeding  beyond  view  of  this  backward  region,  our  road 
opened  towards  mountains  to  right  and  left,  and  introduced 
an  undulating  landscape  richly  hued,  the  sky  on  which  the 
distant  hills  were  painted  lay  streaked  softly  with  creamy 
films  ;  while  over  this  and  the  azure,  floated  shallop- 
shaped  clouds  as  firmly  modelled  as  the  violet  hills  away. 
Further  on  we  went  through  fields  of  rich  earth,  but  herb- 
Jess  and  dry.  Afar  were  whirlwinds  stirring  the  still  air, 
and  eagles  circling  about  the  heights.  Gradually  we  were 
led  into  a  winding  valley  thick  with  trees,  whose  tremulous 
leaves  the  winter's  breath  had  tinted  amber  pale  and  deep, 
and  these  against  the  cerulean  sky  formed  a  design  which 
for  arrangement  was  reminiscent  of  Persian  decoration. 
Below  were  busy  brooks  winding  among  groups  of  grateful 
bushes.  Our  steps  were  then  for  a  time  on  the  banks  of 
a  stream  which  lent  its  own  bed  for  our  feet  when  from 
steepness  or  overgrowth  the  sides  were  impracticable.  The 
near  and  distant  landscape  were  sweetness  to  my  mind. 
Towards  the  afternoon  we  came  to  rugged  passes  of  rock 


("'    '( rnaru  l/f.y 


1  a n/ 1 


in        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       65 

and  mountain  torrent,  grand  as  ideal  gorge  in  child- 
hood's fancy.  One  cliff  was  breast  high  in  its  fallen 
fragments,  and  the  stream  beneath  tossed  about  unbridled 
like  a  masterful  horse  ;  it  had  evidently  not  forgotten  a 
wild  leap  it  had  recently  made,  the  place  of  which  we 
soon  reached,  where  all  the  tumbling  tan-coloured  waters 
fell  and  swirled,  marbled  in  dancing  foam  ;  it  was  spanned 
by  a  fragile  bridge,  and  going  over  this  narrow  road  we 
had  to  study  our  steps  to  avoid  the 'hole  where  the  key- 
stones had  dropped  into  the  watery  bed  below. 

It  was  a  delight  as  we  came  to  a  partial  opening  in 
the  hills  to  see  more  closely  the  tiara  of  high  cliffs  which 
we  had  gazed  on  from  the  slope  of  Merom.  Here  the 
highest  crest  of  Anti-Lebanon  was  ranged  along  a  continu- 
ing wall,  jagged  into  sharp  facets,  now  looking  as  though 
the  primeval  violence  which  had  riven  the  eastern 
mountains  from  Lebanon  had  only  occurred  yesterday. 
Time's  softening  hand  had  no  power  over  it.  Under 
shadow  of  dark  clouds  we  descended  round  a  mountain  to 
our  left  into  the  broad  plain  of  Baalbec. 

Ours  was  the  road  taken  by  the  fugitive  Christians 
who  refused  to  the  Arab  conqueror  Khalid  abu  al  Walid 
either  apostasy  or  submission.  Abu  Obeidah  had  given 
them  with  their  young  and  invalids  three  days'  grace  to  get 
out  of  reach  of  the  malice  of  Walid,  the  superseded  com- 
mander of  the  Moslem  army.  When  they  were  reposing 
on  the  way  to  Constantinople  and  rejoicing  in  the  assurance 
of  safety,  Walid,  guided  by  an  apostate  on  a  shepherd's 
path  across  the  mountains,  came  upon  them,  and  slaughtered 
all,  the  betrothed  of  the  apostate  refusing  his  final  offer  of 
protection. 

At  night  we  camped  at  Zebedeen,  in  the  front  garden 
of  a  small  stone  cottage  such  as  might  have  been  found  in 
Wales  or  Scotland.  I  was  still  unwell,  and  slept  but  little 
in  the  rainy  night,  starting  often  out  of  bed  from  fear 
that  we  should  be  too  late  for  an  early  departure.  In 
the  dawn  a  final  fall  of  rain  drenched  my  tent,  and 
while  it  was  being  packed  I  went  inside  the  cottage, 

VOL.    II  F 


66  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

where  I  found  all  the  inmates  shivering  round  a  hearth 
fire. 

Once  started  we  kept  close  to  a  small  stream  for 
three  hours,  and  then  ascended  a  slope  of  Anti-Lebanon. 
Now,  instead  of  looking  up  to  heights,  our  prospect  was 
of  lower  levels  shut  in  by  indigo  mountains,  the  upper  line 
jagged  against  dazzling  snow  clouds,  the  bases  cut  off  by 
rolling  plains,  as  I  have  seen  the  foundations  of  distant 
cliffs  eclipsed  from  the  low  deck  of  a  yacht,  after  a  heavy 
storm. 

I  could  not  stop  to  make  more  than  mental  sketches, 
for  the  winter  was  coming  apace  from  the  north  to  take 
possession  of  Lebanon,  and  to  bar  its  road  ere  I  could 
ascend.  With  increased  means,  better  health,  and  corre- 
sponding leisure,  I  promised  myself  to  take  advantage  of 
my  present  investigation  by  returning  to  work  in  this 
neighbourhood.  We  passed  through  Anti-Lebanon,  and 
climbed  up  over  broken  rocks  to  a  narrow  shelf  of  road 
made  round  the  slope  of  a  mountain  which  stood  up  on 
high  like  a  mother  above  her  clinging  children,  away 
across  the  plain  stretching  out  of  eye's  reach,  to  left  and 
right  the  range  of  Lebanon  awaited  us.  It  was  the 
utmost  object  of  my  search  in  this  northern  Syrian 
journey.  The  mountains  were  said  to  have  the  least 
amount  of  snow  they  ever  have,  for  the  autumn  sun 
had  just  done  its  utmost  in  distilling  the  frozen  riches 
into  drink  for  the  thirsty  plains,  and  the  cold  had  not  yet 
done  more  than  replace  by  night  the  daily  waste.  The 
snow  could  be  seen  nestling  in  the  hollows  around  the 
mountain's  neck  ;  while  on  the  heads  of  the  peaks  were 
coronets  of  immaculate  white.  The  wind  blew  strongly, 
telling  of  the  ascending  height.  I  was  alone,  but  with  no 
feeling  of  desolation,  not  even  when  the  sun  declined  in  the 
sky,  and  the  sunset  had  come.  I  had,  indeed,  good  cause 
to  be  satisfied,  for  the  golden  rays  lighted  up  honey-toned 
Baal  bee.  There  were  other  Adrianic  buildings  nigh  to  the 
main  temple,  and  cypresses  were  studded  about,  making 
obeisance  to  Baalbec  like  loyal  servitors  to  their  master  ; 


in       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       67 

the  pure  verdure  in  the  plain  below  received  the 
lengthening  shadows  of  the  evening,  as  the  day  stretched 
his  long  and  weary  limbs  down  to  sleep  through  his  restful 
night. 

We  were  greeted  by  the  man  at  the  khan,  who  under- 
took to  give  us  a  clean  and  comfortable  chamber.  Having 
seen  this,  and  given  orders  for  its  preparation,  there  being 
still  good  twilight,  I  walked  through  the  principal 
temple.  The  carving  of  all  the  ornament  was  indeed 
wonderfully  gorgeous  and  artistic.  In  Palestine  there 
was  no  classical  pagan  work  so  finished  and  rich  as  this. 
It  was  full  of  decorative  character  not  known  in  Herod's 
time,  indeed  where  Greek  or  Roman  ornamentation  was 
attempted  at  any  period  in  Palestine  the  result  is  too 
often  undeserving  of  close  attention,  defects  arising  from 
lack  of  artistic  training  in  the  sculptors.  A  small  temple 
we  had  passed  on  the  ridge,  "Dahr  al  Akmar,"  was  a  miser- 
able example  of  such  slovenly  workmanship.  In  the  temple 
of  Baalbec  the  god  was  indeed  honoured,  but  while  I  looked, 
the  Moslem  call  to  prayer  rang  out  from  the  village 
minaret,  and  proclaimed  that  the  once  glorious  worship 
had  been  overthrown,  as  had  the  columns  strewing  the 
ground,  like  the  slain  warriors  of  a  defeated  army. 

When  I  returned  to  my  khan  I  was  visited  by  a  native 
Christian  who  brought  a  handful  of  curiosities  to  turn 
over  ;  one  was  the  man's  own  double  teeth,  which  he  was 
ready  to  sell  for  a  consideration. 

After  my  supper,  to  escape  further  visitors,  I  went 
out  and  prowled  about  in  the  dark  ;  but  the  ground  was 
treacherous  and  uneven,  and  the  temple  was  hidden  in  the 
blackness.  Staring  aside  over  the  chilly  plain  I  peered 
into  the  emptiness,  my  eyes  were  drawn  to  right  and  left 
from  the  fancy  that  cloudy  shapes  moved  about.  Gradually 
the  nebulosity  was  beyond  doubt,  although  it  disappeared 
immediately  that  it  could  be  quite  made  out.  When  the 
phosphorescence  became  indistinct  it  exploded  into  sparks, 
and  then  I  recognised  that  for  the  first  time  in  my  life  I 
was  looking  upon  an  ignis  fatuus.  This  interested  me, 


68 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


and  made  me  peer  the  more  intently,  that  I  might  better 
scan  the  waste  of  darkness.  Two  globes  of  fire  on  my 
left  were  singularly  steady  ;  I  fixed  my  regard  upon 
them,  but  ever  they  glared  unchanged,  except  that  they 
advanced  nearer,  and  proved  to  be  the  eyes  of  an 
approaching  beast.  The  muzzle  of  my  gun  was  steadily 
held  towards  the  animal  as  I  retreated  step  by  step,  till 


7F.  H.  If. 


RUINS    OF    BAALBEC. 


I  reached  the  door  of  the  khan,  where  I  lay  down  to 
sleep.  The  creatures  of  darkness,  however,  which  come 
out  from  nooks  and  corners  of  ungarnished  chambers 
allowed  me  but  little  rest.  My  compensation  was,  that 
I  had  the  earliest  morning  for  examining  the  ruins.  I 
was  told  that  Ibrahim  Pasha  had  had  the  fallen  stones 
built  up  into  a  mosque  and  castle,  and  the  bewilderment 
caused  me  by  this  arrangement  was  more  confusing:  than 

•>  O  O 

the    disorder    occasioned    by    successive    earthquakes.       I 


in        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       69 

stole  time  for  drawing  by  sending  the  muleteer  across 
the  plain,  with  a  promise  to  overtake  him  by  fast  riding. 
As  I  went  on  with  my  work,  I  heard  the  village  forge 
beaten,  the  cocks  crow,  and  the  calling  of  the  hours 
of  prayer.  About  two  I  concluded  that  I  must  depart. 
In  my  final  visit  I  observed  that  the  keystone  of  the 


TEMPLE    AT    BAALBEC. 


arch  painted  by  Roberts  had  dropped  lower,  and  was 
tremulous  in  the  wind.  The  fallen  stones  which  formed 
the  ceilings  of  the  side  porches  had  as  centres  some 
admirably  carved  heads  of  Apollo  and  Diana,  and  in 
one  central  circle  there  was  a  portrait  head  of  Adrian, 
the  donor.  The  keeper  of  the  khan  betrayed  some 
disposition,  now  that  I  and  Issa  were  alone,  to  rely  upon 
our  fear  to  exact  extreme  backshish.  but  I  refused  him  and 


7o  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

rode  away.  We  had  counted  too  surely  upon  finding  our 
road  over  the  plain  by  a  mark  pointed  out  on  the  distant 
hills,  but  we  lost  our  way,  and  had  to  retrace  our  steps 
considerably.  The  incessant  demands  for  payment  from 
fellahin  whom  we  met,  and  of  whom  we  asked  the  way  or 
a  drink  of  water,  were  vexatious,  and  we  found  we  had 
been  falsely  guided.  The  horses,  by  dint  of  greater  repose, 
and  liberal  green  food,  had  become  quite  lively,  and  were 
fretful  at  the  loss  of  their  companions  of  the  long  journey. 
After  some  hours,  when  I  was  far  ahead  of  Issa,  our  mules 
suddenly  came  in  view,  and  my  steed  grew  all  on  fire 
to  join  them.  I  had  no  objection  to  the  straight  line  he 
preferred,  until  we  were  stopped  at  the  brink  of  a 
stream  twenty  feet  wide.  Jerusalem  horses  are  not 
trained  to  amphibious  habits,  so  mine  stuck  at  this 
unfamiliar  obstacle  ;  but  he  did  not  learn  patience 
enough  to  go  quietly  along  the  banks  to  a  crossing. 
Cumbered  with  a  large  sketch-book  on  my  back,  and 
a  gun  on  my  saddle,  I  was  not  disposed  to  humour 
him,  so  I  turned  him  to  the  stream,  using  my  spurs 
at  the  moment.  We  reached  the  middle  of  the  rather 
deep  and  very  cold  water  ;  there  I  found  my  animal  had 
no  more  mettle  left  than  was  sufficient  to  get  him  clear  of 
the  weeds,  and  to  plod  through  the  mud  on  the  further 
bank.  When  we  landed,  he  made  the  rest  of  the  road 
to  his  friends  in  a  very  sober  mood.  The  clouds  had 
covered  up  our  beacon  on  the  mountain  line  and  shrouded 
the  summits,  which  the  following  day  we  desired  to  cross  ; 
the  sun  was  hidden,  and  the  wind  raked  us  as  with  cold 
fingers.  About  sunset  the  veil  was  lifted  ofF  Lebanon, 
but  it  had  left  a  mantle  of  snow  on  all  parts  not  exposed 
to  the  wind.  In  the  west  the  sun  encrimsoned  the  heavy 
pall  of  cloud,  and  deepened  the  slopes  below  into  dark 
indigo,  with  a  crimsony  lustre  like  that  of  the  solid 
lump. 

We  hurried  our  unwilling  beasts  forward,  for  it  was 
already  late  when  the  ascent  from  the  plain  was  reached  ; 
few  people  were  about,  but  we  found  Dahr  al  Akmar 


in        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       71 

before  it  was  quite  dark.  It  appeared  an  abandoned  laby- 
rinth of  cattle  yards,  and  the  "  clean  inn  "  which  had  been 
strongly  recommended  to  us  defied  our  search.  No  lights 
were  visible  anywhere,  but  when  we  raised  a  shout  a  man 
appeared  out  of  the  ground  and  said,  Yes — he  knew  the 
master  we  inquired  for  by  name  ;  thereupon  he  became 
our  guide  through  many  turnings  between  stone  walls, 
and  had  not  the  rain  been  proof  that  the  lane  was  open 
above,  we  might  have  thought  ourselves  in  the  Catacombs. 
He  stopped  at  the  door  of  a  yard.  I  could  look  over  the 
walls  ;  the  yard  had  all  the  litter  incidental  to  the  pounds 
used  by  draft  and  other  animals.  It  was  difficult  to  under- 
stand where  all  the  "  comforts  "  I  had  been  assured  of  could 
be  found.  No  house  at  all  could  we  discern,  but  after 
frequent  knocking  a  man  unexpectedly  emerged  from  the 
distant  corner,  and  came  forward,  while  the  voice  of 
another  published  the  fact  that  the  "  khowaghat "  had 
arrived.  We  were  evidently  expected,  the  gate  was  un- 
bolted and  we  were  invited  in.  I  said,  "  I  was  told  you 
kept  a  hotel." 

"It  is  so,"  he  replied,  and  he  beckoned  me  forward  to 
the  other  end  of  the  yard  where  a  corner  was  thatched  in 
a  rough  way  ;  we  alighted  and  went  to  the  shelter.  The 
low  door  in  the  inner  house  wall  was  open,  and  inside 
glowed  a  warm  fire,  lighting  up  what  was  evidently  a  large 
undergound  chamber.  It  thawed  my  chilled  soul  to  see 
the  flickering  flame,  and  I  asked  the  man  whether  I 
could  have  a  similar  room  for  myself  alone,  and  whether 
my  men  and  animals  could  also  be  accommodated  indoors. 

"  Perfectly,"  he  replied,  and  I  went  back  expressing  my 
content,  and  bringing  my  horse  into  the  yard.  As  I 
returned  to  the  protecting  alcove  there  was  a  great  stir 
inside,  and  I  waited  near  the  door  for  the  announcement 
that  all  was  ready.  There  could  be  no  complaint  of  want 
of  life-sounds  now,  for  the  noise  was  that  of  a  market- 
town  ;  and  presently  were  hustled  out  of  the  low  door 
numerous  broods  of  cackling  fowls  ;  followed  by  two 
lowing;  oxen,  an  ass  or  two,  some  mules  and  a  horse  ; 


72  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

and   at    the   tail   of   these,    rushing    like   a  wether   newly 
belled,  came  a  leader  followed  by  a  small  flock  of  sheep. 

"  Stop,"  I  shouted,  "  I  saw  only  men  and  women  in  the 
firelight." 

"Yes,"  said  the  host,  "we  are  all  coming  out."  And 
behind  him,  appeared  a  family  of  some  twelve  or  more 
people  aged  and  young,  all  leaving  their  glowing  hearth. 
It  was  needful  to  assume  quite  an  angry  tone  to  arrest  the 
exodus. 

"  I  will  not  allow  it.  Let  them  go  back,  and  you  come 
and  talk  to  me." 

The  landlord  approached,  still  pleading  for  his  plan, 
but  I  turned  towards  the  sheltering  lean-to,  where  was  a 
truck  on  wheels,  and  an  old  ram  mangered  by  a  halter. 
"  Can  you  put  that  ram  elsewhere  and  move  the  cart  ?  "  I 
said,  and  in  spite  of  remonstrance,  I  took  the  vacated  nook 
for  my  lodging.  The  tent  being  suspended  on  the  two 
outer  angles  with  a  lantern  hanging  on  the  wall,  and  Issa's 
cooking-fire  kindled  outside,  I  was  perfectly  satisfied  with 
the  exchange. 

To  employ  the  time  profitably  now,  while  the  dinner 
was  being  cooked,  was  my  next  object.  I  was  wet  through 
and  muddy  ;  and  as  I  had  to  change  my  clothes,  it  seemed 
desirable  to  enjoy  the  abundance  of  water,  which  I  could 
not  always  procure  for  a  good  bath.  Two  large  buckets 
were  therefore  brought,  and  soon  I  was  busy,  making  up 
for  the  cold  of  the  water  by  rubbing  and  scrubbing  and 
breathing  the  faster.  While  thus  occupied  for  a  while, 
in  addition  to  the  cheerful  sounds  of  frying  and  ordinary 
talking  of  my  company,  I  heard  a  boisterous  altercation 
going  on  between  Issa  and  certain  rollicking  strange  voices. 
Abating  my  stampings,  and  brisk  towelling,  I  called  out 
to  Issa  to  explain  the  cause  of  quarrel. 

"  Why,  these  people  are  so  unreasonable,  ya  effendi, 
hearing  that  you  were  having  a  bath  all  the  men,  women, 
and  children  came  out  to  look  through  a  hole  in  the  tent. 
But  they  can't  all  see  at  once,  and  I  want  those  who  were 
here  at  the  beginning  to  go  away,  and  make  place  for 


in        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       73 

others,  but  they  won't ;  and  those  behind  are  laughing  and 
quarrelling  with  those  in  the  front,  and  I  threaten  that  I 
will  turn  them  all  away  if  they  can't  agree." 

Mauvaise  honte,  I  think,  quite  spoilt  my  talents  as  a 
performer  when  I  knew  that  I  was  acting  in  public  ;  but, 
in  any  case,  perhaps  the  remainder  of  the  entertainment 
could  not  have  been  so  diverting  as  the  earlier  part  of  the 
play.  I  enjoyed  my  supper,  unconscious  if  strange  eyes 
criticised  my  manner  of  eating  ;  and  after  an  hour  or  two's 
reading  tucked  myself  up  in  my  trestle  bed,  not  less  con- 
fiding in  the  permanence  of  comfort  in  my  quarters, 
because  the  rain  made  increasing  music  in  many  pools 
close  at  hand. 

On  waking,  my  first  inquiry  was  whether  the  storm  of 
the  night  had,  or  had  not,  shut  up  the  road  to  the  cedars. 
The  opinion  grew,  as  daylight  came,  that  it  would  be  found 
just  practicable  ;  and  accordingly  we  hurried  our  de- 
parture, and  got  well  on  the  road  before  full  daylight 
came.  There  was  no  sun,  but  every  object  behind  us 
showed  out  in  the  greatest  clearness  ;  and  with  a  colour, 
the  fuller  and  richer,  for  having  no  glare  to  blanch  its 
surface.  It  is  an  equivalent  for  the  enchantment  of  sun- 
light, one  of  which  we  have  much  in  England  ;  but  in  a 
climate  so  perseveringly  dazzling  as  this,  the  cloud-screened 
light,  when  it  occurs,  is  a  great  delight  and  refreshment. 
Anti-Lebanon  during  the  night  had  passed  from  summer 
to  winter.  Lebanon  could  only  be  seen  below  the  clouds, 
and  the  muleteer  pointed  out  that  the  increased  snow 
was  decisive  against  the  attempt  to  ascend,  that  it  was 
the  beginning  of  the  winter  snow,  which  would  stop 
travellers  from  crossing  until  May,  but  I  would  not  heed 
these  croakings.  We  left  all  luggage  behind  in  the  head 
muleteer's  care,  and  took  with  us  only  enough  for  a  day. 
We  found,  throughout  the  climb,  a  thick  covering  of  rich 
earth  on  the  rock  which  made  bad  weather  a  great  obstacle 
to  the  firm  footing  of  animals  ;  and  at  first  we  met  many 
stalwart  fair-haired  men  loading  their  asses  with  wood 
for  winter  fuel.  We  had  to  grip  hard  to  prevent  the 


74  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

saddle  from  slipping  backwards,  and  as  the  road  grew 
steeper,  showers  of  rain  and  sleet  warned  us  to  lose  no 
time  in  our  climbing.  When  we  reached  the  region  of 
snow,  the  cold  was  to  me  only  pleasant,  but  the  Arabs 
covered  their  eyes  and  mouths  with  handkerchiefs  and 
burnooses.  When  our  horses  had  to  rest  for  fresh 
breath  I  noted  the  plain  below,  all  squared  out  to  the 
farther  slopes  like  patchwork.  About  ten  o'clock  we 
came  to  the  level  of  a  canopy  of  cloud  resting  like  a 
ceiling  on  the  verdure  bosoms  of  the  range,  and  reaching 
across  to  the  eastern  slopes.  Higher  still  in  our  climb 
we  looked  down  on  the  upper  surface  of  this  drooping 
covering,  and  through  several  gaps  could  again  be  seen 
with  perfect  clearness  the  villages,  streams,  and  temples 
as  separate  pictures.  Now  we  got  on  faster  afoot.  I 
dismounted  and  left  my  horse  to  keep  the  track  by 
himself.  About  noon  we  reached  the  utmost  height 
traversed  by  the  road,  and  presently  came  in  view  of 
the  western  landscape  ;  the  mountain  summits  for  a  few 
miles  fell  to  a  plateau  some  eight  hundred  feet  below, 
a  mile  or  two  in  front  of  us  we  saw  an  opening,  forming 
a  gulfy  ravine  which  descended  to  the  Mediterranean  plain 
seven  thousand  feet  below,  and  the  sea  beyond  with 
the  horizon  stretching  its  straight  line  across  from  the 
arc  formed  by  the  mountains  to  left  and  right,  as  the 
cord  extends  from  point  to  point  of  an  inverted  bow. 
To  the  right  lay  a  group  of  what  looked  like  small 
mountain  firs,  these  we  were  assured  were  the  cedars  ; 
the  snow  reached  close  down  to  them.  I  shouted  to 
my  men  to  catch  my  horse,  which  had  wandered  in 
their  direction,  but  he  enjoyed  his  liberty,  and  on  my 
taking  up  the  chase,  led  me  many  devious  tracks  ere 
he  was  secured.  A  short  ride  then  brought  us  under 
the  trees,  some  twelve  of  them  were  indeed  mightily 
trunked  and  limbed.  I  had  lately  read  that  a  French 
savant  had  calculated,  from  examination  of  a  transverse 
section  of  one  of  them,  that  its  age  was  five  thousand 
years.  The  rest  of  the  trees  are  so  much  smaller  in  girth, 


in        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       75 

that  according  to'  this  calculation,  they  would  be  but  a 
century  or  two  old. 

We  sat  down  here  and  ate  our  luncheon  of  bread  and 
olives.  The  majestic  beauty  of  the  landscape  before  us 
made  me  regret  that  I  had  not  brought  our  animals  with 
us,  as  we  might  have  gone  on  the  Beyrout  coast  from  the 
point  we  had  reached.  I  observed  that  a  small  church 
was  in  course  of  building  near  at  hand,  and  there 
were  signs,  in  the  presence  of  men,  who  were  collecting 
broken  branches  and  fallen  cones,  and  in  the  broken 
mallets  of  previous  encampments,  that  a  painter  might 
comfortably  tent  in  the  place.  All  the  people  were 
Greek  Christians,  and  singularly  polite  and  honest  looking. 
They  replied  to  my  questions,  that  they  never  broke  off 
any  of  the  living  trees,  because  the  cedars  were  "  the 
Lord's." 

The  clouds  had  drooped  down  ere  we  arose  to  return, 
but  no  storm  broke  upon  us  until  we  had  passed  the 
ridge,  and  then,  as  we  led  our  horses  with  toilsome  care 
down  the  steep  descent,  we  were  assailed  by  snow  and 
drizzle.  When  we  got  into  the  saddle  again  there  was 
a  three  hours'  ride  to  our  cheerless  shelter,  which  we 
regained  at  dusk. 

For  consolation,  I  had  the  satisfaction  of  having 
fulfilled  a  long- cherished  desire.  I  felt  it  the  true 
education  of  an  artist  to  see  such  things,  convinced,  as  I 
have  ever  been,  that  it  is  too  much  the  tendency  to  take 
Nature  at  second-hand,  to  look  only  for  that  poetry  which 
men  have  already  interpreted  to  perfection,  and  to  cater 
alone  for  that  appreciation  which  can  understand  only 
accredited  views  of  beauty.  The  object  of  this  journey 
had  not  been  the  transferring  of  any  special  scene  to 
canvas,  but  rather  to  gain  a  larger  idea  of  the  prin- 
ciples of  design  in  creation  which  should  affect  all  art. 
I  was  but  pursuing  in  my  chosen  region  the  principles 
which  my  fellows  and  I  had  agreed  upon,  and  which  they 
were  to  follow  in  their  own  ways  at  home.  After 
supper  I  finished  the  evening  with  reading  some  pocket 


76  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  m 

volumes  of  cherished  authors,  whose  pages  were  illumined 
by  a  lantern  hung  up  in  the  corner  of  my  bivouac. 

My  way  northward  by  land  had  now  ended.  I 
turned  to  the  south.  Our  road  did  not  always  lie  at  the 
base  of  the  mountain  range,  for  by  striking  across  the 
plain,  and  sometimes  passing  through  chilling  meandering 
waters  we  often  saved  a  great  detour.  My  climb  of  yester- 
day had  made  my  knees  feel  weak.  We  were  in  a  well- 
watered  plain  and  lunched  at  the  side  of  a  brook  ;  in  the 
evening  we  encamped  at  Zahle  with  a  running  stream  at  our 
side.  Resting  the  next  day,  I  took  the  opportunity  to  walk 
about  and  observe  the  folk.  They  all  looked  well  and 
comely,  and  some  of  the  girls  were  beautiful  ;  they  were 
merry,  and  amused  themselves  good-naturedly  'at  the 
solitary  Englishman  walking  through  their  village  and 
making  his  salutations. 

This  happy  home  of  peace  and  innocent  mirth  was 
soon  after  to  be  the  centre  of  carnage,  a  place  of  revelry 
for  incarnate  demons  ! 

During  all  the  first  half  of  the  century  there  had  been 
a  full  recognition  of  the  might  of  England,  and  of  her 
ability  to  punish  outrage  on  Christians  in  Turkey,  which 
had  kept  the  worst  spirits  of  evil  afraid  to  show  their 
heads.  Britain's  power  had  been  exhibited  so  strikingly 
under  the  eyes  of  Egypt  and  Syria,  that  in  the  Arab's 
proverbial  talk  they  held  it  to  be  more  than  merely 
of  this  world.  At  Aboukir  Bay  under  Nelson,  at 
Alexandria  under  Sir  Ralph  Abercrombie,  at  Acre  under 
Sir  Sydney  Smith,  the  Moslems  had  followed  the  course 
of  British  victories,  and  they  noted  the  further  course  of 
the  Napoleonic  war  with  wonder,  and  epitomised  their 
conclusions  by  saying  that  Apolyon  (the  name  they  gave 
Napoleon)  had  overcome  every  nation,  but  England 
had  destroyed  him.  The  traditions  of  the  previous 
generation  had  prepared  young  and  old  in  1837  to 
see  Ibrahim  Pasha  defeated  at  a  stroke,  and  when 
Sir  Robert  Napier  arrived  at  Acre,  exploded  the  powder 
magazine  in  an  hour,  and  then  with  his  marines  drove 


HALT    FOR    THE    NIGHT,  ZAHLE. 


78  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

out  the  Egyptian  army,  all  was  looked  upon  as  matter 
of  course.  This  confirmed  the  earlier  estimate  of 
England's  masterfulness,  so  that  when  she  with  her 
allies  took  up  the  cause  of  Turkey  and  declared  war 
against  Russia  in  1854,  the  expectation  of  the  Maho- 
medan  world  was  that  every  defence  of  our  enemy  would 
at  once  vanish  before  the  army  and  navy.  Now,  our  long- 
retarded  and  still  incomplete  triumph  had  marred  our 
prestige,  and  it  was  easy  to  see  that  we  should  have  to 
fight  for  it  all  again  in  the  East.  The  French  had 
escaped  commissariat  disasters  in  the  Crimea,  and  their 
regiments  had  figured  in  telling  manner  at  the  end  of  the 
long-continued  Inkerman  battle,  so  such  respect  as  was 
still  entertained  by  the  bulk  of  Mahomedans  for  Christian 
forces  was  transferred  to  our  rivals,  whose  prowess  had 
not  before  been  so  fully  recognised  by  them.  The 
massacre  in  the  Lebanon  was  the  earliest  outcome  of  the 
diminished  fear  of  Europe  in  the  minds  of  Druse  and 
Moslem.  The  Persian  War,  the  Chinese  War,  and  the 
Indian  Mutiny  came  as  the  price  of  our  loss  of  prestige, 
and  when  it  was  seen  that  the  issue  proved  that  the  God 
of  battles  had  not  forsaken  us,  and  that  we  undoubtedly 
vanquished  all  our  enemies,  the  rulers  of  the  East  felt 
again  that  savage  instincts  could  not  be  indulged  without 
count  of  a  severe  reckoning  with  Christendom. 

Going  along  the  road  that  led  to  Beyrout,  which  was 
to  be  my  place  of  embarkation  for  the  seat  of  war,  it  was 
natural  for  me  to  speculate  on  the  future  prospects  of  our 
arms  ;  this  national  question  occupied  my  attention  in 
alternation  with  the  thought  of  what  the  members  of  our 
fraternity  had  done  and  were  doing,  and  how  my  best 
friends  would  care  for  the  small  store  of  work  I  should  be 
able  to  show  them.  My  curiosity  was  the  greater,  as, 
having  assured  them  post  by  post  that  I  was  on  the 
point  of  starting  for  home,  I  had  received  but  few  letters 
for  the  last  few  months. 

While  I  was  still  proceeding  south,  the  snowy  peak  of 
Hermon  ever  seemed  to  accompany  me,  and  for  a  day  it 


in        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD 


79 


was  my  marching  companion,  but  when  I  reached  the  road 
from  Damascus  I  had  to  leave  it  behind,  and  the  sea  was 
then  my  attraction,  entertaining  my  eyes  and  drawing  me 
on  to  Beyrout. 

Again  in  mountainous  regions  we  passed  companies 
going  to  Damascus,  and  we  came  upon  a  small  tribe  of 
bedouin  pitching  their  simple  tent  over  the  next  ridge  ; 
farther  on  we  encountered  a  woman,  one  of  their  party, 


CONSTANTINOPLE. 


who  was  wailing  bitterly  .over  her  prostrate  husband.  She 
turned,  begging  us  to  come  to  her  help.  I  dismounted, 
and,  procuring  the  brandy  flask  from  Issa,  I  poured  some 
down  the  fainting  man's  throat.  When  he  revived  he  was 
suspicious  that  it  was  forbidden  drink,  and  pushed  it  from 
him,  saying  it  was  "fire."  Assuring  him  that  it  was  but 
medicine,  I  gave  him  more,  after  which  he  arose  and 
walked  to  his  friends. 

When  I  reached  Beyrout  I  had  to  settle  accounts  with 
honest  Issa,  the  most  truthful  and  trustworthy  Arab  I  had 


8o 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM 


CH.  Ill 


met.  In  fulfilment  of  my  promise  to  Graham,  I  sent  him 
by  Jaffa  back  to  Jerusalem  with  the  tents  and  animals. 
Long  before  I  again  trod  the  soil  of  Palestine  the  good 
fellow  died. 

I  took  my  berth  in  the  Messagerie  boat  Le  Tancred, 
which  had  come  to  Beyrout  on  its  way  to  Constantinople. 
The  vessel  was  crammed  with  Mahomedan  passengers. 
Five  hundred  returned  pilgrims  from  Mecca  were  enough 
to  cumber  the  deck,  but  in  addition  there  were  one 
hundred  and  five  Bashi-Bazouks  on  their  way — not  per- 


IV.  II.  H. 


SMYRNA    ROADSTEAD. 


haps  for  the  first  time — to  join  General  Pearson's  con- 
tingent, and  also  about  fifteen  Syrians  going  to  the 
Crimea  for  the  land  transport  service,  amongst  whom — as 
his  mocking  fate  would  have  it  — •  was  my  unvaliant 
Oosdoom  servant  Issa  Nicola.  Unbidden  and  unknown 
to  me  was  another  fellow-traveller,  the  cholera. 

Ours  was  a  memorable  journey,  and  its  annals  are 
doubtless  written  in  the  records  of  the  society  to  which 
the  vessel  belonged.  There  was  much  adventure  on 
the  yellow  -  flagged  way  ;  the  main  event  can  scarcely 
be  classed  as  belonging  to  artistic  story,  so  I  will  not 
retard  the  resumption  of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  history  by 


YOUTHFUL    DESIGNS LEIGH    HUNT'S    "  CAPTAIN  SWORD    AND   CAPTAIN*    PEN." 

VOL.    II  G 


82  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.III 

entering  here  into  a  sea  yarn.  Yet  to  give  honour  to  whom 
honour  is  due,  I  feel  bound  to  declare  that  had  it  not  been 
for  the  sagacious  valour  of  Lieutenant  Pigeon  of  the 
ship's  company,  the  Bashi  -  Bazouks  in  an  attempted 
mutiny  would  have  prevented  the  good  vessel,  and  every 
European  passenger  upon  it,  from  ever  arriving  in  the 
sweet  waters  of  the  Bosphorus.  I  finally  parted  with  the 
brave  man  in  Kasatcha.  When  I  arrive  in  the  regions 
beyond  the  final  harbour  of  this  life's  journey,  he  will  not 
be  the  last  comrade  of  its  voyage  that  I  should  care  to 
greet.  I  made  a  drawing  of  him  for  his  good  wife  in 
Marseilles.  Constantinople  delighted  my  soul  by  its 
excessive  beauty  and  picturesqueness.  Why,  unless  stale- 
ness  be  the  inducement,  the  exhibitions  should  be  full  of 
pictures  of  Venice,  already  divinely  represented  by  Turner, 
and  why  there  should  never  be  any  illustrations  of  the 
Byzantine  city,  it  is  difficult  to  understand. 

The  spectacle  of  Christian  nations  contending  in  blood 
together  in  the  Crimea  was  of  humiliating  sadness,  and 
filled  me  with  greater  desire  to  develop  the  war  subjects 
from  Leigh  Hunt's  Captain  Sword  and  Captain  Pen,  which 
I  had  designed  at  nineteen,  but,  alas !  I  never  gained 
freedom  to  put  my  idea  upon  canvas. 


CHAPTER    IV 

1856 

It  is  said  that  Jealousy  is  Love,  but  I  deny  it  ;  for  though  Jealousy 
be  procured  by  Love,  as  Ashes  are  by  Fire,  yet  Jealousy  extinguishes 
Love  as  Ashes  smother  the  Flame. — La  Reine  de  Navarre. 

IN  January  I  returned  from  the  Crimea  to  Constantinople, 
and  thence  in  another  eventful  journey  by  way  of  Malta 
to  Marseilles.  I  had  not  quitted  the  city  on  the  Bosphorus 
before  news  of  the  armistice  had  arrived.  This  being 
regarded  as  a  prelude  to  peace,  a  large  proportion  of 
the  officers  had  leave  to  return  to  England,  so  all  the 
ships  were  crowded.  I  travelled  from  Marseilles  to 
Paris  with  many  English  officers  and  officials.  It  was  a 
pleasure  to  see  them  looking  forward  to  the  honours 
they  had  won  ;  I  had  been  away  the  full  time  of  the 
Black  Sea  campaign,  and  I  was  led  to  consider  the 
difference  of  our  nation's  regard  for  their  work  and  mine. 
I  also  had  been  trying  to  do  the  State  some  service,  but 
alone.  The  soldiers'  struggle  was  of  immediate  benefit, 
while  of  mine  the  value,  if  any,  would  be  discovered 
only  in  the  future.  I  admired  the  wisdom  of  rewarding 
service  that  could  be  estimated  at  once,  and  in  leaving 
such  work  as  mine  to  find  any  honours  it  might  possibly 
deserve  in  the  far  future. 

I  had  met  my  friend  Mike  Halliday  at  Pera  coming 
back  from  the  Crimea,  and  we  travelled  together  to 
Pans.  Thence  we  took  second-class  fares,  and  in  doing 

83 


84 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


so  had  our  interest   aroused    in    a   fact   of  some    historic 
moment.   • 

Opposite    to   us  sat  two  buxom  Scotchwomen,   exul- 
tant   in    a    matter    about    which    they   talked   so    openly 


CEMETERY,   PKRA. 


that  it  was  evident  they  courted  inquiry  as  to  their 
cause  of  pride.  I  therefore  asked  them  who  were  the 
"Emperor"  and  "Empress"  of  whom  they  spoke  so 
much. 

"  Oh,    the     Emperor     Napoleon     and    the     Empress 
Eugenie,  of  course,"  they  replied. 


iv        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       85 

"  What  have  you  been  seeing  them  about  ? "  I 
asked. 

"  Oh,  the  new  Prince,  of  course." 

u  I  have  just  come  from  Constantinople,  and  I  did  not 
know  there  was  one,"  I  said. 

"  Now  only  think,  as  if  he  was  a  bairn  yet !  but  we're 
engaged  to  nurse  him  when  he  is  born.  Oh,  she's  such  a 
dear,  and  the  Emperor's  quite  another,  and  we've  just  got 
time  to  go  back  to  Scotland  to  get  our  clothes  and  return," 
they  answered. 

"  But  if  it  should  be  a  Princess  instead  of  a  Prince  ?  " 
I  suggested. 

"  Oh,"  they  chorused,  "  of  course  it  won't  be  ;  the 
Emperor  and  Empress  have  quite  made  up  their  minds 
that  it  must  be  a  son." 

Thus  the  affairs  of  princes,  as  of  mice  and  men,  are 
settled  for  them. 

In  the  Crimea,  Halliday  had  seen  much  of  John  Luard, 
who  a  few  years  before  had  left  the  army  to  become  an 
artist,  and  was  now  staying  behind  with  a  former  mess- 
mate in  his  hut,  to  complete  a  picture  of  its  interior. 
This  erstwhile  son  of  Mars  had  been  placed  with  John 
Phillip,  to  initiate  himself  into  the  service  of  Apollo  ; 
Phillip  soon  recommended  him  to  the  care  of  Millais,  who 
took  him  into  his  close  friendship  and  guidance.  Luard 
had  lately  been  painting  in  Millais'  discarded  studio  in 
Langham  Place,  and  Halliday  advised  me  to  go  and 
knock  up  the  servant  there  for  the  spare  bed.  We 
arrived  in  London  about  3  A.M.,  and  I  left  my  com- 
panion to  go  to  his  lodgings,  while  I  went  to  Langham 
Chambers.  To  my  surprise  my  excellent  friend  Lowes 
Dickinson  opened  the  door,  welcoming  me  with  as  great 
cordiality  as  any  long-lost  wanderer  ever  received. 

I  had  been  away  over  two  years.  It  was  now  the 
beginning  of  February  1856.  Halliday  and  I  took  a 
house  together  in  Pimlico,  in  which  we  each  found  a 
studio,  and  arranged  another  in  an  upper  room  for 
Martineau,  who,  from  diffidence,  had  not  got  on  well 


86  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

with  his  work  without  an  adviser.  Halliday,  who  had 
been  originally  nothing  but  an  earnest  amateur,  had  been 
taken  in  hand  by  Millais,  and  under  this  guidance  the 
picture  "  Measuring  for  the  Wedding  Ring  "  had  been 
finished  at  Winchelsea. 

This  history  is  not  one  of  personal  or  family  affairs 
foreign  to  the  progress  of  the  reform  of  art  by  the 
members  of  our  Brotherhood  and  its  circle  ;  I  would 
avoid  as  much  as  possible  to  speak  of  the  many  other 
interests  which  come  into  the  life  of  every  man.  But 
an  artist,  however  devoted  to  his  pursuit,  cannot  but 
have  his  right  hand  arrested  or  accelerated  by  the  private 
circumstances  of  the  family  to  which  he  belongs,  so  that 
I  must  say  that  the  legal  troubles  suffered  by  my  father 
had  now  seriously  undermined  his  health,  a  fact  which 
involved  me  in  duties  demanding  close  attention. 

One  of  my  sisters  had  been  attending  a  School  of 
Art,  and  had  determined  to  adopt  the  profession  ;  I  had 
therefore  to  give  her  personal  superintendence  of  a 
continuous  kind. 

No  tangible  combination  now  showed  itself  among  the 
working  and  the  sleeping  members  of  our  Brotherhood  ; 
neither  was  there  any  professed  tie  between  us  and  the  out- 
side adherents  of  our  reform.  For  two  years  there  had 
been  no  night  excursions,  no  boating,  and  no  corporate  life 
of  any  kind.  In  earlier  days  it  seemed  as  though  we  could 
always  trust  one  another,  if  not  for  collaboration,  at  least 
for  good-fellowship  and  cordiality  ;  it  proved,  however, 
that  these,  too,  were  things  of  the  past  never  to  be  revived. 
When  I  called  upon  Brown  and  asked  him  about  Gabriel 
Rossetti,  he  told  me  that  he  was  in  Oxford,  where 
the  University  "had  thrown  themselves  at  his  feet"  in 
recognition  of  his  poetic  and  artistic  accomplishments  ;  he 
added  that  he  was  not,  as  some  people  said,  engaged  to 
Miss  Siddal,  but  that  she  stood  in  the  position  ot  pupil 
to  him,  and  that  she  had  done  some  designs  of  the  most 
poetic  character  ;  and  that  she  had  recently  been  entertained 
by  Dr.  and  Mrs.  Acland  at  Oxford.  Brown's  feeling  of 


iv        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       87 

mistrust  of  the  Academy  and  that  of  the  Rossettis,  as  he 
reported  it,  was  now  more  deep-seated  than  ever,  and 
he  dwelt  on  the  idea  that  we  should  no  longer  try  to 
propitiate  the  Body. 

The  loyal  contribution  of  works  by  Millais  and 
myself  year  by  year  to  Trafalgar  Square  had  not  been 
enough  to  negative  the  suspicion  on  the  part  of  our  elders 
which  the  frequent  diatribes  of  our  noisy  anti-Academy 
members  excited  ;  for  the  satirical  tone  adopted  by  the 
literary  entourage  of  our  Brotherhood  was  constantly 
bruited  about,  doing  them  no  harm,  but  provoking  severe 
penalty  upon  us  who  were  still  relying  upon  Academy 
toleration.  Gentle  Christina  Rossetti's  sonnet  is  an 
example  of  the  tone  of  hostility  to  the  Academy  prevalent 
in  her  circle  from  the  beginning.  This  not  only  conveyed 
the  idea  that  the  Institution  was  one  to  which  reform  in 
due  time  would  be  wholesome,  but  that  it  was  a  power 
altogether  destructive  to  the  true  spirit  of  art,  and  one 
which  it  had  been  our  secret  object  to  overthrow.  The 
sonnet  had  been  written  upon  the  election  of  Millais  as  an 
Associate  two  years  previously— 

The  P.R.B.  is  in  its  decadence  : 

For  Woolner  in  Australia  cooks  his  chops, 

And  Hunt  is  yearning  for  the  land  of  Cheops. 

D.  G.  Rossetti  shuns  the  vulgar  optic  : 

While  William  M.  Rossetti  merely  lops 

His  B's  in  English  disesteemed  as  Coptic. 

Calm  Stephens  in  the  twilight  smokes  his  pipe, 

But  long  the  dawning  of  his  public  day  : 

And  he  at  last,  the  champion,  Great  Millais, 

Attaining  Academic  opulence, 

Winds  up  his  signature  with  A.R.A. 

So  rivers  merge  in  the  perpetual  sea  ; 

So  luscious  fruit  must  fall  when  over-ripe  : 

And  so  the  consummated  P.R.B. 

Brown  was  full  of  projects  for  the  bringing  together 
of  the  original  Brotherhood  and  its  subsequent  followers 
to  act  as  a  power  in  the  profession,  which  in  his  view  it 
had  now  failed  to  do. 


88  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

I  had  desired  to  see  the  members  of  the  Brotherhood 
and  those  immediately  connected  with  them  in  order  to 
learn  the  position  of  our  affairs.  It  had  already  been 
apparent  that  the  result  o^f  our  ill-considered  combination 
would  fall  far  short,  of  our  original  expectation. 

Deverell  had  been  <?©  hindered' by  family  troubles  that 
he  had  not  been  able  to  do  any  important  work  after  his 
probationary  e^€tk>n,  and  at  his  death  no  proposal  had 
been  made  to  fill  the  vacancy.  William  Rossetti  had 
now  entirely  given  up  the  practice  of  drawing,  and  on 
account  of  the  ridicule  of, the  critics  Gabriel  Rossetti  had 
not  resumed  public  exhibition.  Millais  and  I,  therefore, 
were  left  with  our  following  of  new  converts  to  represent 
our  cause.  Woolner  had  come  back  from  his  Tom 
Tiddler's  Ground  without  much  heavier  pockets  than  he 
started  with,  having,  indeed,  nothing  more  than  a  chance 
in  a  public  competition  at  London  for  a  statue  of  Went- 
worth  to  be  erected  in  Melbourne,  and  some  small 
patronage  for  medallions  and  busts,  gained  mainly  by  the 
introductions  of  Carlyle,  Tennyson,  and  Patmore.  It 
was  impossible,  therefore,  to  resume  the  dream  that  a 
tangible  Brotherhood  still  existed.  One  example  of  the 
result  of  our  movement  may  be  cited  in  an  attempt 
made  to  repeat  the  system  of  the  Cyclographic  Society, 
in  which  certain  accomplished  amateurs — Lady  Waterford, 
the  Hon.  Miss  Boyle,  and  others — were  to  take  part.  A 
handsome  folio  was  made,  and  in  due  course  was  sent  to 
Gabriel  for  his  contribution,  but  there  its  known  history 
ended. 

Several  men  outside  our  Body  were  openly  working  on 
our  lines.  Ford  Madox  Brown  with  his  picture,  "  The  Last 
of  England,"  was  now  altogether  adopting  our  principle. 
The  picture  of  "  Work  "  was  also  being  conducted  on  our 
plan,  but  it  still  was  some  years  from  completion.  Wallis 
was  painting  his  never-to-be-forgotten  "  Death  of  Chatter- 
ton  "  ;  Arthur  Hughes  was  moving  forward  in  remarkable 
poetic  power,  as  shown  by  his  "  April  Love  "  ;  W7indus  of 
Liverpool  was  also  an  independent  convert,  exhibiting 


iv        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       89 


some  ingeniously  dramatic  pictures,  after  his  "  Burd 
Helen"  ;  and  Burton,  with  his  "Wounded  Cavalier,"  in 
the  next  Exhibition  gained  deserved  repute. 

Many  followers  were  admired  chiefly  for  mechanical 
skill,  and  in  some  cases  this  was  of  a  very  complete  kind, 
although  wanting  in  imaginative  strain.  An  increasing 
number  of  the  public  approved  our  methods,  perhaps  the 
more  readily  when  no  poetic  fancy  complicated  the  claim 


DKATH    OF     CHATTERTON. 


made  by  the  works.  Time  could  be  trusted  to  do  justice 
to  the  relative  values  of  poetic  and  prosaic  work,  though, 
as  Hogarth  said,  "  posterity  is  a  bad  paymaster." 

One  sure  mark  of  the  increasing  estimation  of  our 
movement  was  shown  in  the  continued  apportioning  of  the 
.£50  annual  prize  at  Liverpool  to  artists  working  on  our 
principles.  Millais  had  gained  this  in  1852  for  "The 
Huguenot,"  in  the  following  year  it  was  awarded  the 
second  time  to  me,  for  "  Claudio  and  Isabella,"  and  it  was 
again  obtained  by  Millais  in  a  subsequent  year.  Mark 


90  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  iv 

Anthony  was  also  favoured  for  a  landscape  which 
bore  strong  traits  of  our  manner,  and  Madox  Brown 
in  1856  for  his  "Christ  washing  Peter's  Feet,"  and 
again  in  1857-8  for  his  "Chaucer  in  the  Court  of 
Edward  III.,"  gained  the  prize.  Further,  the  Royal 
Society  of  Fine  Arts  in  Birmingham  had  accorded  the 
prize  of  £60  to  me  in  the  year  1853  for  my  "The 
Strayed  Sheep." 

In  addition  to  these  influences  upon  our  Body  a 
circumstance  of  great  portent  must  now  be  treated 
unreservedly. 

So  many  persons  were,  and  some  still  are,  under  an 
unworthy  impression  concerning  the  separation  of  Mr.  and 
Mrs.Ruskin  and  the  re-marriage  of  the  lady  to  John  Everett 
Millais,  that  it  has  been,  to  all  friends  of  either  who  know 
the  truth,  painful  to  leave  the  circumstances  ever  open  to 
misinterpretation.  Mr.  Ruskin  in  his  Preterita  avoided  the 
subject,  and  so  the  story  remained  untold,  but  it  was  only 
a  question  how  long  it  could  remain  so.  In  the  mean- 
time, those  who  knew  what  had  happened  were  becoming 
fewer,  and  the  danger  of  a  permanent  misunderstanding 
was  increasing  until  Mr.  Frederic  Harrison,  in  his 
conscientious  monograph  on  Ruskin,  so  far  broke  silence 
that  henceforth  further  reserve  would  involve  injustice. 
Happily,  the  fuller  truth  exculpates  every  one  involved 
from  all  but  error  of  judgment.  To  understand  the 
situation  it  must  be  realised  that  John  Ruskin,  as  has 
been  publicly  stated,  while  still  young  in  manhood  had 
been  deeply  wounded  by  the  disappointment  of  his  affec- 
tions, and  it  was  only  after  a  visit  to  Switzerland  and 
some  stay  there  that  a  serious  weakness  of  his  lungs  which 
had  supervened  was  overcome.  On  his  return  his  parents 
watched  his  condition  with  devoted  care,  and  were  glad 
the  while  to  exercise  hospitality  towards  the  daughter 
of  Mr.  Grey  of  Perth,  one  of  their  relations  ;  she  in  her 
young  liveliness  seemed  to  distract  their  son's  brooding 
sadness.  It  was  for  her  that  he  first  wrote  the  story 
The  King  of  the  Golden  River.  The  juvenile  guest  showed 


APRIL     LOVE. 


92  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

an  untiring  interest  in  the  art  questions  which  her  cousin 
was  pursuing,  and  with  his  lite-long  delight  in  young 
people,  he  took  her  about  with  him  to  exhibitions  and 
galleries,  bestowing  constant  attention  on  her  pleasure  and 
instruction.  The  good  mother  and  father  rejoiced  at 
these  signs  of  distraction  from  memory  of  their  son's 
former  grief;  and  the  mother,  fondly  feeling  herself 
justified,  told  him  that  she  had  the  authority  of  his  father 
to  say  that  they  had  regarded  with  continual  delight  the 
gentleness  shown  to  his  cousin  Euphemia,  and  she  assured 
him  that  they  hoped  he  would  himself  see  that  his  attach- 
ment to  her  was  of  a  tender  nature,  and  that  he  would  no 
longer  delay  to  make  them  all  happy  by  declaring  his 
affection  for  the  lady.  The  son  avowed  surprise  and  regret 
that  this  construction  should  be  put  upon  his  attentions  to 
his  cousin,  and  said  that,  since  it  was  impossible  his  feelings 
towards  her  could  ever  be  of  warmer  character,  he  felt 
forced  by  his  mother's  action  to  discontinue  the  interest 
which  had  proceeded  only  from  a  desire  to  aid  her 
improving  taste.  The  mother  thereupon  begged  him  to 
forget  that  he  had  been  misunderstood,  and  asked  that  as 
Effie  knew  nothing  of  this  appeal  to  him,  he  should  not 
make  any  difference  whatever  in  his  behaviour  to  her. 
The  threatened  interruption  to  Ruskin's  attention  to  Miss 
Grey  did  not  therefore  occur,  and  his  gentleness  towards 
her  was  so  unremitting  that,  as  time  went  on,  the  parents 
again  began  to  entertain  hopes  that  their  son  could  be 
induced  to  marry.  Once  more  the  mother  spoke  to  him, 
this  time  much  more  pressingly,  and  assured  him  that 
(although  he  did  not  recognise  the  fact  himself)  she  and 
his  father  were  convinced  that  he  was  deeply  enamoured 
of  his  cousin,  and  that,  if  once  he  gave  up  his  reserve,  she 
would  accept  him,  and  as  his  wife  be  a  centre  of  delight  to 
all  of  them.  She  besought  her  son  not  to  delay  acting  on 
their  wishes.  Ruskin  still  held  that  it  was  impossible  he 
could  ever  be  in  love  with  his  young  cousin,  but  agreed 
that  if  they  in  spite  of  this  candid  confession  still  desired 
him  to  act  on  their  conviction,  he  would  be  obedient  to 


iv        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       93 

their  demand  ;  and  accordingly  he  made  his  proposal, 
which  the  young  lady  was  guilelessly  persuaded  to 
accept.  It  can  cause  but  little  wonder  that  this  marriage, 
which  was  contracted  at  Perth,  did  not  prove  a  happy 
one. 

It  was  on  distant  terms  that  the  two  passed  six  years 
of  their  lives.  Mr.  Ruskin  was  ever  ceremoniously  polite 
to  Mrs.  Ruskin,  and,  doubtless,  many  regarded  them  as  the 
most  enviable  of  couples.  She  was  always  elegantly  attired 
and  adorned  with  exquisite  jewels,  and  was  admired  for 
her  beauty  and  bon  esprit  wherever  she  appeared  in 
company  with  her  genius-endowed  partner,  but  observant 
visitors  not  infrequently  remarked  upon  the  absence  of 
signs  of  deep  affection  and  intimacy  between  the  couple. 
After  my  first  acquaintance  with  Ruskin,  he  invited 
Millais  and  me  to  stay  with  them  for  some  months  at 
the  Bridge  of  Allan,  but  I  was  forced  to  relinquish  the 
engagement.  Millais,  with  some  other  guests,  was,  how- 
ever, detained  in  this  neighbourhood  till  late  in  the 
autumn,  painting  the  wonderful  portrait  of  Ruskin  him- 
self. Mike  Halliday,  returning  from  Scotland,  reported 
that  Millais  on  occasions  had  openly  remarked  to  Ruskin 
upon  his  want  of  display  of  interest  in  the  occupations  and 
entertainments  of  Mrs.  Ruskin.1  Remonstrances  grew  into 
complaint,  and  gradually  the  guest  found  himself  champion- 
ing the  lady  against  her  legal  lord  and  master.  It  was  in 
the  mood  thus  engendered  that  he  parted  with  the  pair  in 
December  1853,  when  he  returned  to  town  in  time  to  see 
me  off  on  my  Eastern  journey.  Ruskin  still  gave  sittings 
to  Millais  in  his  own  studio  for  the  completion  of  the 
portrait.  In  the  following  summer  Mrs.  Ruskin  left  her 
home  without  notice  one  morning  and  went  direct  by  train 
to  her  father's  house  at  Perth.  She  had  been  six  years 
under  Ruskin's  roof.  Mr.  Grey,  a  Writer  to  the  Signet, 
immediately  took  steps  to  have  the  ceremony  of  marriage 
declared  null  and  void.  Ruskin  did  not  appear  to  contest 

1  It  is  needless  to  enter   into   further  details  of  the  words  spoken  at  the 
time. 


94  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

the  evidence,  and  accordingly  the  lady  was  liberated, 
and  both  released  from  their  false  position.  Millais,  to 
protect  the  lady  from  any  possible  misconception,  de- 
termined that  he  would  not  see  her  until  a  twelvemonth 
had  passed  from  the  date  of  her  flight  from  Ruskin's 
house,  and  on  its  anniversary  in  1855  he  was  married  to 
her,  in  her  maiden  name,  in  her  father's  drawing-room 
at  Perth.  The  new  state  of  things  was  not  really  in 
opposition  to  Ruskin's  desires,  but  now  that  it  was 
attained,  many  friends  would  insist  that  he  was  an 
injured  man,  and  certainly  he  had  to  suffer  constant 
annoyance  from  the  intermeddling  of  the  vulgar  officious. 

The  breach  thus  occasioned  was  unfortunate  to  our 
Body.  It  became  obvious  at  once  that  no  one  could,  for 
some  years  at  least,  be  cordially  intimate  with  both  Millais 
and  Ruskin.  Millais  was  my  first  and  far  greater  friend. 
He  had  in  the  course  he  took  towards  the  lady  he  married 
behaved  in  a  thoroughly  honourable  and  straightforward 
manner,  and  I  could  have  no  choice  but  to  follow  my 
inclination  and  temporarily  lose  the  gratification  of  my 
sincere  desire  for  further  friendship  with  Ruskin  and  its 
many  advantages.  A  bitter  controversy  arose  in  society 
about  the  case,  and  I  always  did  battle  for  my  earlier 
friend,  and  certainly  the  misconstructions  and  falsehoods 
that  had  to  be  confronted  were  many. 

Soon  after  my  return  to  England  I  went  down  to 
Oxford,  and  found  all  my  Syrian  boxes  there.  Mr. 
Combe,  after  the  arrival  of  the  painting  of  "  The  Scape- 
goat," had  indefatigably  written  in  turn  to  all  those  who 
had  given  me  commissions  ;  but  each  had  replied  that  the 
subject  was  not  one  which  fitly  represented  me.  One  art 
lover  in  the  North,  after  expressing  this  opinion,  wrote 
that  he  should  like  to  have  the  work  sent  to  him  for  a 
few  days,  but  my  friend  had  not  felt  authorised  to  accede, 
and  thus  I  was  still  the  proud  owner  of  the  picture  and 
also  of  a  fast-dwindling  exchequer.  I  was  glad  of  the 
opportunity  of  unpacking  my  pictures  and  drawings  to 
obtain  the  judgment  of  my  friends.  Two  or  three 


iv         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       95 

months'  separation  from  the  works  to  a  great  degree 
dissipated  the  prejudice  nurtured  of  familiarity  with  them, 
and  my  new  judgment  was  a  benefit  to  me.  It  relieved 
me  to  believe  that  the  amount  of  painting  achieved  was 
not  altogether  so  disappointing  as  I  had  feared,  and  I 
found  that  the  parts  finished  in  "  The  Temple  "  subject 
interested  my  friends  greatly. 

My  little  reserve  of  money  in  Mr.  Combe's  hands 
was  almost  expended  in  setting  up  my  new  home.  An 
optimistic  dream  was  to  bring  "  The  Temple  "  picture  to 
completion  before  showing  it  to  anybody.  I  obtained 
from  influential  directors  introductions  to  the  masters  of 
Jewish  schools,  who  allowed  me  to  select  two  boys  as 
sitters,  and  from  these  I  painted  the  child  with  the  fly- 
flapper  and  the  boy  kissing  the  veil  of  the  "  torah  "  in  the 
picture.  I  found  a  model  for  the  youth  with  the  harp  in 
a  young  Hungarian  Jew,  but  was  soon  stopped  in  my 
desperate  attempt  to  advance  by  finding  that  I  had  already 
overrun  my  balance. 

I  had  to  raise  money  as  quickly  as  possible.  Pot- 
boilers are  so  called  because  they  keep  the  kitchen  range 
alight.  The  water-colour  drawings  I  had  made  in  the  East 
did  not  at  first  command  purchasers.  The  prejudice  ruling 
that  an  artist  should  do  only  one  kind  of  subject  was 
always  standing  in  my  way.  At  that  time  picture-dealers 
told  me  there  was  a  great  demand  for  replicas  of  works 
of  mine  exhibited  years  ago,  which  when  they  first  appeared 
had  been  much  abused  ;  I  therefore  took  up  the  original 
studies  of  these,  and  elaborated  them  into  finished  pictures. 
These  works  escaped  diatribes  of  the  critics  which  always 
met  any  works  incorporating  a  perfectly  new  idea,  and 
thus  timid  purchasers  were  not  frightened.  I  first  took 
up  an  original  sketch  for  "The  Eve  of  St.  Agnes,"  which 
was  sold  to  Mr.  Peter  Miller  of  Liverpool.1 

When  in  Syria  I  had  received  a  proposal  from  two 
engravers  of  ^300  for  the  copyright  of  "The  Light  of 
the  World,"  but  I  had  not  felt  sure  that  they  would  do 

1    Xo\v  the  property  of  Mrs.  Munn. 


96  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

the  work  satisfactorily,  and  refused  to  close  with  the  offer. 
Gambart  now  asked  me  to  make  a  price  with  him  for  the 
design.  I  asked  him  the  sum  hitherto  mentioned  ;  but 
he  objected  on  the  ground  that  there  was  the  chance  of 
the  public  not  liking  the  print,  and  then  no  one  would 
divide  his  loss,  while  if  it  became  popular,  photo- 
graphers throughout  England  would  pirate  the  work,  and 
the  prosecution  of  each  would  cost  him  ^70  ;  the  only 
penalty  to  them  would  be  the  loss  of  a  simple  camera. 
In  France,  where  the  law  treated  piracy  as  a  penal 
offence,  the  publisher  was  safe  from  such  a  violation  of 
his  rights,  and  so  could  pay  the  artist  better.  With  this 
conclusion  to  the  debate  the  business  ended  for  the  time  ; 
but  in  a  few  months  the  monetary  pressure  upon  me 
became  more  stringent,  and  I  was  induced  to  accept  £200 
as  my  reward. 

Ford  Madox  Brown  painted  the  background  of 
his  "Work"  from  a  picturesque  part  of  Hampstead 
Road,  high  up  towards  the  Heath.  One  of  the  strongest 
marks  of  all  exhibited  Pre-Raphaelite  painting,  from 
the  time  of  my  "  Rienzi,"  was  that  the  background  was 
not  done  either  from  conventional  fancy  or  memory, 
but  from  Nature,  and  if  it  could  be  avoided,  not 
indirectly  from  sketches,  but  direct  from  the  scene 
itself  on  to  the  canvas  of  the  final  picture.  Ford  Madox 
Brown's  background  for  "  Pretty  Baa  Lambs "  was  the 
first  out-of-door  figure  painting  that  showed  signs  of 
his  conversion  to  our  principles.  In  its  original  form 
— changed  some  years  later — the  scene  had  been  copied 
from  a  view  on  Clapham  Common,  with  a  very  low 
horizon.  The  background  consisted  mainly  of  blue  sky 
and  a  few  red  cottages,  small  and  distinct,  on  the  fringe 
of  the  grazing  land.  This  was  a  mark  of  his  change  of 
style,  and  "  Work  "  was  still  more  so. 

To  follow  our  method  more  religiously  he  had  taken 
a  lodging  near  his  chosen  background.  For  an  easel  he 
constructed  a  rack  on  the  tray  of  a  costermonger's  barrow,, 
above  the  canvas  were  rods  with  curtains  suspended,  which 


iv         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       97 

could  be  turned  on  a  hinge,  so  that  they  shrouded  the 
artist  while  painting.  When  all  was  prepared,  Brown 
himself  wheeled  the  barrow  to  the  desired  post  ;  and 
forthwith  worked  the  whole  day,  surrounded  of  course  by 
a  little  mob  of  idlers  and  patient  children,  who  wondered 
when  the  real  performance  was  going  to  begin.  Once  a 
passing  ruffian  hurled  a  stone  across  the  road,  so  that  it 
should  splash  into  a  puddle  close  to  him.  Brown  was 
naturally  indignant  ;  but  ere  he  could  act  in  any  way  the 
companions  of  the  offender  turned  upon  him,  and  covered 
him  with  contempt,  asking  why  he  should  hinder  another 
from  getting  his  living.  In  1856,  when  the  background 
was  completed,  and  he  was  painting  on  the  figures,  he  told 
me  that  Ruskin  was  patronising  Rossetti  and  was  using  his 
influence  with  Mr.  M'Cracken,  Lady  Trevelyan,  and  other 
of  his  friends  to  buy  drawings  off  him.  It  was  evident 
that  Ruskin  was  not  disposed  to  hold  out  the  same  helping 
hand  to  Brown  himself,  or  to  express  sympathy  for  his 
work.  There  was  a  great  difference  between  our  refusal 
of  Brown  in  early  years  as  a  nominal  "  Brother,"  and  our 
welcoming  him  as  an  outside  convert  like  other  men  whose 
work  we  thoroughly  admired,  so  that  when  he  joined  with 
Rossetti  to  get  up  a  collection  of  small  works  for  a  private 
exhibition,  I  willingly  contributed  some  Eastern  landscapes. 
Rooms  were  secured  in  Charlotte  Street,  Fitzroy  Square  ; 
and  when  all  was  arranged  I  went  to  a  private  view. 
Rossetti  was  there,  and  immediately  on  my  arrival  called 
me  to  come  and  see  "the  stunning  drawings"  that  the 
Sid  (the  name  by  which  Miss  Siddal  went)  had  sent.  I 
complimented  them  fully,  and  said  that  had  I  come  upon 
them  without  explanation  I  should  have  assumed  they 
were  happy  designs  by  Walter  Deverell. 

"  Deverell  !"    he  exclaimed,  "  they  are  a  thousand  times 
better  than  anything  he  ever  did."      I  had  thought  that 

*  O  O 

to  compare  the  attempts  of  Miss  Siddal,  who  had  only 
exercised  herself  in  design  for  two  years,  and  had  had  no 
fundamental  training,  to  those  of  Gabriel's  dear  deceased 
friend,  who  had  satisfactorily  gone  through  the  drilling  of 

J       O  O  O 

VOL.    II  H 


98 


PRE-RAPHAELI T1SM  AND  THE      CHAP 


the  Academy  schools,  would  be  taken  as  a  compliment,  but 
Rossetti  received  it  as  an  affront,  and  his  querulous  attitude 
confirmed  me  in  the  awakened  painful  suspicion  that  he  was 
seeking  ground  of  complaint  against  his  former  colleagues. 


EXPKRIMKNTAL     DKSK.'N     FOR     "COPHETUA." 

In  non-painting  days  I  was  now  preparing  designs 
for  the  illustrated  edition  of  Tennyson.  Millais  had  in 
Scotland  already  done  the  greater  part  of  his  set  for  the 
volume,  and  was  still  increasing  his  store.  The  publisher, 
Moxon,  called  upon  me  with  many  repinings  that  the  book 
was  so  long  delayed.  I  was  steadily  fulfilling  my  under- 
taking to  do  six  illustrations  and  no.  other  work,  until 


IV 


PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       99 


they  were  completed.  He  revealed  that  his  heart  was 
sore  about  Rossetti,  who  having  promised,  had  not  sent 
any  drawing,  and  now,  when  Moxon  called,  was  "not  at 
home,"  and  would  not  reply  to  letters. 


TRIAL    SKKTCH     FOR    "THE     LADY    OF    SHALOTT." 

As  the  price  to  be  paid  for  each  drawing  was 
^25,  and  Rossetti  was  in  pecuniary  straits  notwith- 
standing continual  aid  from  his  brother,  his  aunts,  and 
Ruskin,  it  was  difficult  to  account  for  this  apparently 
determined  neglect,  so  I  took  the  first  opportunity  to 
see  him.  He  avowed  at  once  that  he  did  not  care  to 
do  any  because  all  the  best  subjects  had  been  taken  by 


100 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


others.  "You,  for  instance,  have  appropriated  The  Lady 
of  Shalott,  which  was  the  one  I  cared  for  most  of  all,"  he 
pleaded. 


TRIAL  SKETCH  FOR  "THE  LADY  OF  SHALOTT. 


"  You  should  have  chosen  at  the  beginning  ;  I  only 
had  a  list  sent  me  of  unengaged  subjects,"  I  said.  "You 
know  I  made  a  drawing  from  this  poem  of  the  '  Breaking 
of  the  Web  '  at  least  four  years  ago.  It  was  only  put 
aside  when  the  paper  was  so  worn  that  it  would  not  bear 


IV 


PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      101 


a  single  new  correction.  A  friend  and  his  wife  came  to 
my  studio,  I  showed  them  this  embryo  design,  with  other 
drawings  in  my  portfolio,  and  the  lady  expressing  a  violent 
liking  for  it,  begged  it  of  me,  reminding  me  that  I  had 


DFS1GX     FOR     "THE     LADY    OF    SHALOTT,"    FROM     WOOD. 

never  given  her  any  design  for  her  album.  My  pro- 
testations that  I  was  dissatisfied  with  the  drawing,  except 
as  a  preparation  for  future  work,  were  of  no  avail,  and  I 
yielded  on  condition  that  it  should  not  be  shown  publicly, 
and  that  it  should  be  mine  when  needed  for  future  use.  I 


102 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 


have  ever  since  been  nervous  lest  this  immature  invention 
should  be  regarded  as  my  finished  idea,  so  I  was  glad  on 
reading  the  list  of  poems  chosen  for  the  Tennyson  book 
to  find  this  one  at  my  disposal.  My  new  drawing  is  now 
far  advanced.  I  had  determined  also  to  illustrate  the 
later  incident  in  the  poem,  but  that  I  will  give  up  to  you, 
and  I'll  relinquish  any  of  the  subjects  that  I  have  booked 


DKSIGN     FOR     HAROUX     AL     RASCH1I). 


besides  this,  that  you  may  have  no  cause  for  driving  old 
Moxon  to  desperation." 

Gabriel  then  saw  the  publisher,  and  the  matter  was 
arranged,  exacting  however,  it  seems,  a  stipulation  that 
his  price  should  be  five  pounds  more  than  any  other 
designer  was  receiving.  So  often  however  did  the  poor 
expectant  publisher  get  disappointed  in  the  delivery  of 
each  block,  that  it  was  said  when,  soon  after,  Moxon 
quitted  this  world  of  worry  and  vexation,  that  the  book 
had  been  the  death  of  him  ! 


IV 


PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     103 


The  illustrated  volume  was  in  the  end  a  commercial 
failure.  Those  who  liked  the  work  of  artists  long  estab- 
lished in  favour  felt  that  the  pages  on  which  our  designs 
appeared  destroyed  the  attractiveness  of  the  volume,  and  the 


/  ^f¥«^^fJ||^pf 

ir  I  ipr 


DKSK;N   FOR   HAROUN   AL   RASCHID. 


few  who  approved  of  our  inventions  would   not  give  the 
price  for  the  publication,  because  there  was  so  large  a  propor- 
tion of  the  contributions  of  a  kind  which  they  did  not  value. 
Messrs.  Fremantle  in    1901  1   brought   out    an  edition 

'    Some  Po?n:s  l>v  Alfred  Lord  Tenn\son. 


io4         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

of  the  poems  with  our  illustrations  alone.  Mr.  J.  Pennell, 
an  American  popular  writer  on  art  as  well  as  an 
accomplished  black-and-white  draftsman,  has  stated  in  his 
introduction  to  the  volume  that  our  drawings  were  based 
in  style  upon  examples  of  those  executed  for  books  by 
Menzel  in  Germany.  To  speak  candidly,  the  only 
examples  of  modern  German  drawings  that  could  have 
influenced  us  would  have  been  those  published  in  the  early 
fifties,  many  of  which  were  of  some  passing  edification  to 
us  although  we  only  saw  them  in  shop  windows  and  had  no 
knowledge  of  the  artists'  names.  We  knew  more  intim- 
ately Richter's  designs  in  German  almanacs  and  periodicals, 
as  also  the  two  woodcuts,  "  Death  as  a  Friend  "  and  "  Death 
as  an  Enemy,"  by  Burkner.  I  remembered  all  of  these 
with  appreciation,  but  had  no  thought  of  imitating  their 
manner.  All  were  too  strictly  in  outline  for  our  own 
practice  at  that  time  (1856),  except  perhaps  Burkner,  who 
was  for  us,  however,  too  much  an  imitator  of  Albert 
Durer's  manner.  I  highly  valued  the  Nuremberg  designer ; 
his  fluency  in  the  method  he  had  settled  upon  for 
expressing  himself  was  a  delight  to  me,  but  the  amazing 
regularity  of  his  shading  gave  a  sameness  to  all  the 
textures  of  his  picture  which  made  his  manner  extra- 
neous to  my  aims.  Millais,  it  may  be  assumed,  had  the 
same  judgment,  and,  wisely  or  not,  we  followed  our  own 
instincts  in  our  methods  of  expression.  Whether  Millais 
or  Rossetti  had  seen  Menzel's  illustrations,  I  am  unable 
to  state,  but  Millais  and  I  had  not  the  time  to  go  about 
to  stray  exhibitions,  to  booksellers'  shops,  or  elsewhere,  to 
find  examples  of  unknown  Continental  work,  among  which 
I  am  independently  assured  Menzel's  is  of  high  order. 
Rossetti  certainly  had  more  disposition  to  rout  out  new 
publications,  but  he  never  spoke  to  me  of  Menzel's 
achievements,  and  to  this  day,  except  for  two  water-colour 
drawings  which  were  exhibited  some  years  since  by  the 
Old  Water-Colour  Society,  I  have  never  seen  a  scrap  of 
this  artist's  work. 

The   Exhibition   season  drew   nigh.       Millais  came  up 


iv        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      105 

to  town  with  a  great  store  of  work.  It  was  indeed  a 
delight  to  me  to  see  him  happy  after  bitter  troubles,  and 
now  talking  joyfully  of  his  home.  He,  more  than  any 
one  to  whom  I  had  shown  my  "Scapegoat,"  approved, 
understood  it,  and  was  touched  by  the  pathos  of  the  sub- 
ject, and  was  encouraging  too  about  my  unfinished  work  ; 
and  as  I  was  until  a  day  or  two  before  the  sending-in  day 
foolishly  counting  upon  completing  "  The  Lantern  Maker's 
Courtship  "  for  the  Exhibition,  he  good-naturedly  volun- 
teered to  sit  for  the  Englishman  riding  on  the  donkey. 
As  Millais  was  leaving  my  studio,  we  heard  Ruskin  being 
ushered  up  ;  but  a  meeting  was  avoided. 

John  Luard,  who  earned  the  love  of  our  circle  at  once, 
had  come  back  with  his  first  picture,  which  he  had  done  in 
the  Crimea.  It  represented  an  officer  opening  a  newly- 
arrived  box  from  home,  and  taking  out  from  it  a  folded 
miniature  of  some  one,  sacred  for  his  eyes  alone.  Con- 
cealing his  interest  from  his  companions,  he  is  painted  as 
furtively  putting  the  portrait  into  his  breast.  It  was  in 
the  studio  in  Langham  Place  that  Luard's  picture  was 
seen,  and  here  Millais  showed  his  new  works. 

During  the  war  it  had  become  a  scandal  that  several 
officers  with  family  influence  had  managed  to  get  leave  to 
return  on  "  urgent  private  affairs."  Millais  had  felt  with 
others  the  gracelessness  of  this  practice  when  such  liberty 
could  not  be  accorded  to  the  simple  soldier,  and  he  under- 
took a  picture  to  illustrate  the  luxurious  nature  of  these 
"  private  affairs."  A  young  officer  was  being  caressed  by 
his  wife,  and  their  infant  children  were  themselves  the 
substitutes  of  the  laurels  which  he  ought  to  be  gathering. 
When  the  painting  was  nearly  finished  the  announcement 
of  Peace  arrived.  What  was  to  be  done  ?  The  call  for 
satire  on  carpet  heroes  was  out  of  date  ;  the  painter  adroitly 
adapted  his  work  to  the  changing  circumstances,  and  put 
The  Times  in  the  hands  of  the  officer,  who  has  read  the 
news  which  they  were  all  patriotically  rejoicing  over  ;  he 
with  a  sling  supporting  a  wounded  arm  to  represent  that 
he  had  nobly  done  his  part  towards  securing  the  peace. 


106  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.IV 

The  second  picture  was  of  "  Burning  Leaves."  It  may 
be  said  to  be  the  first  of  a  series  of  inventions  of  his,  in 
which  great  consideration  was  given  to  the  posing  of  the 
figures,  so  that  while  not  unapt  for  the  task  engaging 
them,  a  certain  poetic  dignity  breathes  through  their 
arrangement.  In  our  walk  to  Long  Ditton  in  1851  he 
had  anticipated  the  sweet  reminiscences  of  this  incident. 
His  third  picture  was  of  a  Highland  soldier  in  the  trenches 
at  Sebastopol  reading  a  letter  from  home.  While  I  was 
feeling  the  difficulty  of  re-establishing  myself  in  the  favour 
of  the  public,  the  amount  of  work  that  he  had  completed 
for  exhibition  acted  as  a  new  reproach  to  me.  A  few 
visitors  came  to  see  what  I  had  brought  from  the 
East,  they  had  all  naturally  expected  to  find  some  large 
figure  picture,  and  when  I  showed  "The  Scapegoat" 
many  expressed  incredulity  that  this  was  the  only  finished 
canvas,  and  decided,  as  others  had  done,  that  the  subject 
was  not  in  my  line.  Some  approved  my  water-colours, 
but  no  one  then  offered  to  buy  any.  Augustus  Egg's 
prophecy  was  fulfilled  that  I  should  have  to  re-make  my 
reputation  from  the  beginning. 

Mr.  Gambart,  the  picture-dealer,  was  ever  shrewd  and 
entertaining.  He  came  in  his  turn  to  my  studio,  and  I 
led  him  to  "  The  Scapegoat." 

"  What  do  you  call  that  r  " 

"  '  The  Scapegoat.'  ' 

"  Yes  ;   but  what  is  it  doing  :  " 

"  You  will  understand  by  the  title,  Le  bouc  errant.'" 

"  But  why  errant  ?  "  he  asked. 

"  Well,  there  is  a  book  called  the  Bible,  which  gives 
an  account  of  the  animal.  You  will  remember." 

"  No,"  he  replied,  "  I  never  heard  of  it." 

"  Ah,  I  forgot,  the  book  is  not  known  in  France,  but 
English  people  read  it  more  or  less,"  I  said,  "  and  they 
would  all  understand  the  story  of  the  beast  being  driven 
into  the  wilderness." 

"  You  are  mistaken.  No  one  would  know  anything 
about  it,  and  if  I  bought  the  picture  it  would  be  left  on 


KXPERIMENTAL     OKSIGNS    FOR    "ORIAXA." 


io8          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

my  hands.  Now,  we  will  see,"  replied  the  dealer.  "  My 
wife  is  an  English  lady,  there  is  a  friend  of  hers,  an 
English  girl,  in  the  carriage  with  her,  we  will  ask  them 
up,  you  shall  tell  them  the  title  ;  we  will  see.  Do  not 
say  more." 

The  ladies  were  conducted  into  the  room. 

"  Oh  how  pretty  !  what  is  it  ?  "  they  asked. 

"  It  is  '  The  Scapegoat,'  "  I  said. 

There  was  a  pause.  "  Oh  yes,"  they  commented  to 
one  another,  "  it  is  a  peculiar  goat,  you  can  see  by  the  ears, 
they  droop  so." 

The  dealer  then,  nodding  with  a  smile  towards  me,  said 
to  them,  "  It  is  in  the  wilderness." 

The  ladies  :  "  Is  that  the  wilderness  now  ?  Are  you 
intending  to  introduce  any  others  of  the  flock  ?  "  And  so 
the  dealer  was  proved  to  be  right,  and  I  had  over-counted 
on  the  picture's  intelligibility.  To  console  Gambart  for 
his  disappointment  at  the  unmarketableness  of  my  picture, 
I  introduced  him  to  Halliday  and  his  picture  of  "  Measur- 
ing for  the  Wedding  Ring,"  which  he  at  once  purchased. 
It  was  destined  to  achieve  a  great  popularity  ;  indeed,  an 
English  engraving  and  a  German  piracy  gave  it  a  transient 
European  reputation. 

The  clergy  avowed  interest  in  my  picture.  I  wished 
with  all  my  heart  their  stipends  had  been  large  enough  to 
enable  them  to  become  patrons. 

While  the  picture  representing  "  Azazel  "  i  was  being 
exhibited,  the  public  accepted  without  demur  the  tradi- 
tional interpretation  put  upon  it  of  its  being  the  unhappy 
bearer  of  the  sins  of  others,  and  foredoomed  to  suffer. 
However,  there  was  a  school  of  theologians,  with  Spurgeon 
amongst  them,  who  denounced  the  work  as  heretical  in 
its  signification  ;  to  them  the  goat  should  be  the  bearer  of 
Heaven's  blessings  and  represent  the  risen  and  glorified 
Saviour.  Thoughtful  readings  of  all  the  particulars  con- 
nected with  this  sacrifice  had  led  me  to  conclude  that  the 
common  reading  of  the  intention  was  more  in  accordance 

1    An  alternative  name  for  "scapegoat"  in  the  Bible. 


IV 


PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     109 


with  the  understanding  of  it  at  the  time  of  Christ  than 
that  of  these  modern  theologians,  and  that  in  this  way  the 
Apostles  regarded  it  as  a  symbol  of  the  Christian  Church, 
thus  teaching  both  them  and  their  followers  submission 
and  patience  under  affliction.  Jesus  Christ  had  borne  the 
sins  of  the  Jewish  people  and  had  put  to  an  end  blood 
sacrifices  for  ever.  He  taught  His  disciples  that  the  per- 
secution He  suffered  would  also  follow  them.  His  spirit 
had  ascended  to  God,  but  His  Church  remained  on  earth 
subject  to  all  the  hatred  of  the  unconverted  world. 

One  important  part  of  the  ceremony  was  the  binding 
a  scarlet  fillet  around  the  head  of  this  second  goat  when 
he  was  conducted  away  from  the  Temple,  hooted  at  with 
execration,  and  stoned  until  he  was  lost  to  sight  in  the 
wilderness.  The  High  Priest  kept  a  portion  of  this  scarlet 
fillet  in  the  Temple,  with  the  belief  that  it  would  become 
white  if  the  corresponding  fillet  on  the  fugitive  goat  had 
done  so,  as  a  signal  that  the  Almighty  had  forgiven  their 
iniquities.  The  quotations  from  the  Talmud  which  1 
gave  in  the  catalogue  preserve  particulars  of  the  manner 
in  which  this  Tsraelitish  rite  was  conducted  at  the  date 
of  Christ's  ministry  ;  that  it  was  so  conducted  at  a 
much  earlier  date  is  suggested  by  the  passage  in  Isaiah  : 
"  Though  your  sins  be  red  like  crimson,  they  shall  be  as 
wool."  The  general  tenor  of  the  Epistles  accords  with 

the    reading    that    the    new    Church   was    to    endure    evil 

o 

when  Christ  had  departed,  just  as  the  innocent  goat  did 
after  the  sacrifice  of  the  first  goat.  This  is  more  exactly 
conveyed  in  the  symbol  of  St.  John  in  the  Book  of  Reve- 
lation, in  which  the  Christian  Church  is  represented  by 
the  woman  bearing  a  child,  confronted  by  the  "  Great  Red 
Dragon  "  who  strives  to  devour  it  ;  but  the  child  being 
caught  up  into  heaven,  the  woman  takes  flight  into  the 
wilderness,  into  which  the  dragon  pursues  her  with  a  flood 
cast  out  of  his  mouth.  The  whole  image  is  a  perfect  one 
of  the  persecution  and  trials  borne  by  the  Apostolic 
Church,  and  perhaps  by  the  Church,  as  subtly  understood, 
to  this  day  ;  and  it  can  scarcely  be  doubted  that  the  driving 


no         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

away  of  the  Scapegoat  into  the  wilderness,  pursued  by  a 
flood  of  execrations,  was  a  type  in  the  evangelist's  mind 
when  he  wrote  the  Apocalypse.  Of  necessity  there  must 
ever  be  a  limit  in  such  comparisons.  The  repetition  of 
the  ceremony  year  by  year  was  relied  upon  to  explain  the 
undying  atonement  brought  to  the  Jewish  people  by  the 
vicarious  expiation  wrought  by  the  sin-laden  goat  when 
driven  into  the  wilderness. 

The  following  quotations  will  show  in  what  temper 
the  press  was  disposed  to  encourage  the  art  patrons  of  the 
day  to  welcome  my  picture  :— 

Mr.  Holman  Hunt's  picture  of  the  "  Scapegoat  "  is  disappoint- 
ing, although  there  is  no  doubt  much  power  in  it.  The 
distance  is  given  well,  the  colour  is  very  good,  the  mountains  are 
lovingly  painted  ;  in  the  eye  of  the  Scapegoat,  too,  as  it  comes  to 
drink  of  the  waters  of  the  Dead  Sea,  there  is  a  profound  feeling, 
but  altogether  the  scene  is  not  impressive,  and  were  it  not  for  the 
title  annexed  it  would  be  rather  difficult  to  divine  the  nature  of 
the  subject.  A  much  more  successful  work  of  Pre-Raphaelite  art 
is  one  near  it  by  a  young  artist  named  Burton,  etc.  etc. —  Times^ 
May  3,  i  856. 

At  the  R.A.  Banquet  the  picture  which  perhaps  arrested  the 
most  general  attention  was  Mr.  Hunt's  "Scapegoat,"  the  scene  of 
which  is  taken  from  Oosdoom,  on  the  margin  of  the  salt-incrusted 
shallows  of  the  Dead  Sea,  and  has  the  massive  mountain  range  of 
Edom  as  a  background.  The  power  with  which  the  artist  has 
succeeded  in  conveying  on  his  canvas  the  awful  sense  of  desolation 
consonant  with  this  fine  Scripture  subject  was  the  theme  of 
eloquent  eulogy  on  the  part  of  more  than  one  member  of  the 
Episcopal  bench.  The  impression  produced  on  other  beholders 
by  this  striking  work,  however  complimentary  to  the  skill  of  the 
painter,  did  not  repress  the  lively  wit  of  a  very  distinguished 
legislator  who  excited  some  merriment  by  his  good-humoured  ban 
mot  suggested  by  the  recollections  of  a  recent  Parliamentary  debate, 
that  Air.  Hunt's  picture  was  an  excellent  portrait  of  Lord  Strafford 
de  RedclifFe. —  Times^  May  5,  1856. 

The  Pre-Raphaelites  are  few  in  number,  are  not  much  more 
than  usually  schismatic,  and  aim  more  at  breadth  than  even 
finish. 

"  The  Scapegoat  "  (398),  by  Mr.  Hunt,  is  a  picture  from  which 
much  has  been  expected,  not  merely  from  the  original  feeling  of 


iv         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      in 

the  painter,  but  from  its  being  a  Scripture  subject,  and  one  the 
scene  of  which  is  laid  in  a  spot  of  prophetic  and  awful  desolation, 
where  it  was  actually  painted.  It  was  one  of  Willcie's  theories 
that  Scripture  scenes  should  be  painted  in  the  Holy  Land,  a  theory 
which  Raphael  and  some  others  are  quite  sufficient  to  disprove. 
We  do  not,  however,  find  fault  with  the  desires  of  realisation 
which  at  the  present  day,  either  from  a  wish  for  novelty  or  from 
a  tendency  to  idealised  materialism,  is  grown  almost  a  passion  with 
our  young  artists  and  poets.  The  question  is  simply  this,  here  is 
a  dying  goat  which  as  a  mere  goat  has  no  more  interest  for  us 
than  the  sheep  that  furnished  our  yesterday's  dinner  ;  but  it  is  a 
type  of  the  Saviour,  says  Mr.  Hunt,  and  quotes  the  Talmud. 
Here  we  join  issue,  for  it  is  impossible  to  paint  a  goat,  though  its 
eyes  were  upturned  with  human  passion,  that  could  explain  any 
allegory  or  hidden  type.  The  picture,  allowing  this  then,  may  be 
called  a  solemn,  sternly  painted  representation  of  a  grand  historical 
scene  (predominant  colours  purple  and  yellow),  with  an  appropriate 
animal  in  the  foreground.  We  shudder,  however,  in  anticipation 
at  the  dreamy  fantasies  and  the  deep  allegories  which  will  be 
deduced  from  this  figure  of  a  goat  in  difficulties.  .  .  .  Though 
not  swept  in  very  boldly,  brute  grief  was  never  more  powerfully 
expressed.  We  need  no  bishops  to  tell  us  that  the  scene  is 
eminently  solemn.  .  .  .  Still  the  goat  is  but  a  goat,  and  we  have 
no  right  to  consider  it  an  allegorical  animal  of  which  it  can  bear 
no  external  marks.  Of  course  the  salt  may  be  sin  and  the  sea 
sorrow,  and  the  clouds  eternal  rebulcings  of  pride,  and  so  on,  but 
we  might  spin  these  fancies  from  anything,  from  an  old  wall,  a 
centaur's  beard,  or  a  green  duck  pool.  For  delicacy  of  detail  we 
should  mention  the  love  of  painting  displayed  in  the  clefts  of  the 
mountains  which  are  photographically  studied.  Though  the 
effects  are  strong,  with  the  green  water  and  yellow  sky,  we  do  not 
quarrel  with  them  because  they  are  probably  strictly  true  to  the 
scene,  however  strange  and  apparently  unnatural.  —  Athenaum, 
1856,  p.  589. 

No.  398,  "The  Scapegoat,"  by  W.  H.  Hunt.  This  work  has 
been  placed  prominently  before  the  public  on  the  line,  and  the 
painter,  as  one  of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  brethren,  has  attracted  some 
share  of  public  interest.  It  will  be  necessary  to  inquire  into  the 
merits  of  the  work.  The  scene,  we  are  told,  was  painted  at 
Oosdoom  on  the  margin  of  the  salt-incrusted  shallows  of  the  Dead 
Sea,  and  the  mountains  closing  the  horizon  are  those  of  Edom. 
The  subject  of  the  picture  is  simply  a  white  goat  wandering 
exhausted  and  thirsty  amid  the  salt  deposit  on  the  shore.  .  .  . 
The  animal  is  an  extremely  forbidding  specimen  of  the  capriform- 


ii2          PRE-RAPHAELITISM   AND  THE       CHAP. 

ous  races,  and  does  not  seem  formed  to  save  its  life  by  a  flight  of 
a  hundred  yards.  If  narrative  and  perspicuity  be  of  any  value  in 
art,  these  qualities  are  entirely  ignored  here.  There  is  nothing 
allusive  to  the  ceremony  of  the  Atonement,  save  the  fillet  of 
wool  on  the  goat's  horns,  and  this  is  not  sufficiently  important 
to  reveal  the  story  of  the  scapegoat.  There  is  nothing  to 
connect  the  picture  with  sacred  history.  There  is  no  statement, 
no  version  of  any  given  fact  ;  a  goat  is  here,  and  that  is  all.  The 
ceremonies  to  which  it  is  intended  to  refer,  but  does  not,  must  be 
read  in  the  Talmud.  Had  the  picture  been  exhibited  as  affording 
a  specimen  of  a  certain  kind  of  goat  from  the  hair  of  which  the 
Edomites  manufactured  a  very  superb  shawl  fabric,  there  is 
nothing  in  the  work  to  gainsay  this.  It  might  be  hung  in  the 
Museum  of  the  Zoological  Gardens  as  a  portrait  of  an  animal  that 
lived  happily  and  died  lamented.  There  is  nothing  in  the  work 
to  contradict  it.  The  artist  went  to  the  Dead  Sea  to  paint  the 
scene,  but  there  is  nothing  there  so  red  and  blue  as  the  mountains 
of  Edom.  The  only  point  in  the  picture  that  has  any  interest  at 
all  is  the  deposit  of  salt.  This  is  interesting  if  the  representation 
is  true  ;  for  ourselves  we  have  often  heard  of  this,  but  we  have 
never  seen  anything  like  a  truthful  picture  of  it.  The  picture 
demands  no  more  elaborate  criticism  than  this,  notwithstanding  it 
attracts  scores  of  gazers.  It  is  useless  for  any  good  purpose, 
meaning  nothing,  and  therefore  teaching  nothing,  although  it 
exhibits  large  capabilities  idly  or  perniciously  wasted. — Art  "Journal, 
1856,  p.  170. 

Mr.  Millais  must  have  been  staying  at  the  village  which  Gold- 
smith immortalises  as  "Sweet  Auburn,  loveliest  village  of  the 
plain"  for  plain  people  with  red  hair  seem  this  year  his  idiosyncrasy. 
About  all  his  pictures  there  is  a  red-haired  inflammatory  atmo- 
sphere very  eccentric  and  unpleasing.  Though  true  to  texture, 
his  drawing  is  now  frequently  coarse  and  careless,  his  colour 
treacly  and  harsh,  and  his  shadows  are  heavy  and  disturbed.  As 
usual  he  displays  powers  of  original  and  poetical  thought,  but  does 
not  resort  to  violent  contrasts  or  forced  situations.  He  paints  as 
if  in  defiance  of  his  opponents  much  broader,  and  attempts  to  hit 
the  popular  tastes  by  selecting  subjects  of  the  dav,  one  picture 
being  a  war  scene,  and  another  referring  to  the  peace. 

His  best  and  most  original  personation,  his  smallest  and  least 
cared  for,  is  entitled  "The  Child  of  the  Regiment"  (553).  .  .  . 
Very  exquisite  is  this  little  gem  of  a  thought.  Would  that  we 
could  say  as  much  of  that  disagreeable  pretentious  "  Peace  Con- 
cluded "  (200).  The  thought  in  this  is  commonplace.  .  .  . 
"The  Blind  Girl  "  (586)  is  another  study  of  red  hair,  and  really 


iv         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     113 

coming  after  the  "  Rest,"  rather  excites  our  gall.  .  .  .  We  must 
protest,  however,  against  sweetmeat  rainbows  of  lollipop  colours, 
raw  green  fields,  and  lace -up  boots  ostentatiously  large.  .  .  . 
"The  Cavalier  and  Puritan"  (413)  by  Mr.  Burton  is  the  most 
remarkable  Pre-Raphaelite  picture  in  this  year's  Exhibition.  .  .  . 
This  is  distinctly  a  step  forward  with  Pre-Raphaelitism,  because 
it  is  a  combination  of  Dutch  detail  and  Italian  breadth  in  a  modern 
poetical  subject  of  the  painter's  own  invention,  and  one  of  universal 
passion  and  interest. — Athenceum,  1856,  p.  590. 

The  Pre-Raphaelites  deserve  to  be  noticed  by  themselves. 
Millais  contributes  several  works  of  very  various  merit.  The 
best  is  "  Autumn  Leaves  "—girls  burning  these  leaves — and  here 
may  at  once  be  seen  the  advance  made  in  his  style.  Compare  the 
leaves  with  the  straw  in  the  ark  of  several  years  ago.  There 
every  straw  was  painted  with  a  minuteness  which  it  was  painful 
to  follow.  Here  the  leaves  are  given  with  great  truth  and  force, 
but  the  treatment  is  much  more  general  and  the  work  more  vapid. 
Throughout  all  his  works  the  same  increasing  insipidity  of  touch 
may  be  seen  ;  but  in  all  of  them  will  not  be  seen  colour  as  good 
as  in  this  work  or  expression  so  true.  All  his  subjects  this  year 
are  children,  and  he  has  caught  their  little  ways  and  looks  with 
wonderful  ease.  The  u  Portrait  of  a  Gentleman "  is  capital, 
"The  Blind  Girl"  is  painful,  "The  Child  of  the  Regiment" 
is  sweet,  the  "  Peace  "  is  very  bad  and  very  good.  The  textures 
here  are  rendered  with  great  skill,  the  children,  too,  are  very 
life-like  —  the  right  arm  of  the  girl  in  black,  the  dog  too  is 
good,  with  its  one  eye  turning  to  look  at  the  spectator,  but 
the  principal  figures  are  very  bad,  and  the  whole  meaning  poor. 
The  symbols  of  the  lion  and  the  bear,  and  so  forth,  are  very 
puerile.  The  lady  is  holding  on  we  know  not  how,  and  the 
gentleman  is  shaking  her  hand  we  know  not  why. —  Times^ 
May  3,  1856. 

Millais'  pictures  all  attracted  great  attention,  and  Ruskin 
in  his  Notes  praised  "  Peace  "  beyond  limit. 

My  "  Scapegoat  "  began  its  new  career  in  a  gratifying 
place  on  the  line.  At  the  Royal  Academy  it  was  whispered 
there  had  been  great  opposition  to  this  favourable  treat- 
ment, but  Mr.  Cope,  who  was  on  the  Council,  generously 
championed  the  picture,  and  would  not  yield  to  any 
proposal  on  the  part  of  its  detractors  that  it  should  be  put 
up  high.  This  being  a  secret,  I  was  never  able  to  thank 

VOL.    II  I 


1 14  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  iv 

my  good  protector.  The  price  of  the  picture  was  450 
guineas,  with  copyright  reserved.  From  the  first  it  won 
great  attention,  on  the  opening  day  many  members  and 
amateurs  manifested  their  interest  in  the  scene  and  in  the 
subject,  but  no  one  offered  to  buy  it.  After  a  month  Sir 
Robert  Peel  wrote  to  me  saying  that  he  would  give  me  ^250 
for  it,  and  that  it  should  be  hung  in  his  gallery  pendant 
to  a  picture  by  Landseer  ;  but  the  reader  will  understand 
how  impossible  it  would  have  been  for  me  to  go  on  living 
on  such  a  system  of  business  as  that  on  which  my  acceptance 
of  the  terms  would  have  been  based. 


CHAPTER    V 

1855-1856 

Accepting  all  that  happens  and  all  that  is  allowed  as  coming  from 
thence,  wherever  it  is  from  whence  he  himself  came.  —  MARCUS 
AURELIUS. 

This  is  the  everlasting  duty  of  all  men,  black  or  white,  who  are 
born  into  this  world.  To  do  competent  work,  to  labour  honestly 
according  to  the  ability  given  them  ;  for  that  and  for  no  other  purpose 
was  each  one  of  us  sent  into  this  world  ;  and  woe  is  to  every  man  who, 
by  friend  or  by  foe,  is  prevented  from  fulfilling  this  the  end  of  his 
being. — CARLYLE. 

Cock,  cock,  cock,  cock,  cock,  cockchafer, 
If  you  won't  come,  I  won't  have  you. 

Child's  Rhyme. 

LEIGHTON,  it  will  be  remembered,  had  appeared  (from 
study  in  various  continental  cities)  as  a  comet,  but  at  once 
took  up  his  course  here  as  a  planet.  I  gathered  from  my 
friends  that  on  his  arrival  in  1855  the  Academicians  had 
been  glad  to  hail  his  "  Cimabue "  with  loud  apprecia- 
tion, the  more  because  its  continentalism  separated  it 
from  Pre-Raphaelite  pictures.  Influenced  by  the  glowing 
accounts  of  his  last  work,  I  looked  with  the  greater 

o 

attention  at  his  painting  of  "Orpheus  and  Eurydice"  in 
1856,  and  I  found  much  to  admire  in  it  as  an  indication 
of  the  author's  power,  but  I  was  in  a  minority  in  most 
society  circles,  where  it  was  declared  to  be  a  decline  from 
the  promise  of  the  previous  year. 


1 1 6  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  v 

On  Leighton's  arrival  in  London  from  Rome,  Berlin, 
and  Paris,  the  young  architect  Cockerell  invited  me  to 
meet  him  at  a  bachelor  dinner.  I  was  charmed  with  the 
new  painter's  graceful  and  easy  air  ;  it  was  that  of  a  happy 
youth  who  had  been  ever  surrounded  by  idolising  friends, 
a  youth  who  had  never  suffered  the  rubs  of  life,  and  so 
had  absolute  happy  confidence  in  himself.  This  spirit 
offended  many  who  had  approached  him  with  the  strongest 
disposition  in  his  favour.  Had  he  had  nothing  behind  his 
happy  self-assurance  I  too  should  have  perhaps  felt  dis- 
enchanted enough  to  smile,  but  I  had  seen  that  which 
made  me  recognise  full  warrant  for  his  handsome  estimate 
of  his  powers,  and  this,  with  his  acquirements  and  good 
looks,  of  a  kind  that  grew  ever  more  dignified  with  age, 
inspired  me  with  an  affection  for  him  which  I  never  lost, 
notwithstanding  occasional  frank  differences  between  us. 
His  genius,  seen  in  his  work,  gave  me  continual  delight, 
the  free  -  handedness  with  which  he  was  able  to  keep 
up  the  campaign  against  public  prejudice,  stubborn 
even  to  innovators  of  his  suavity,  made  life  seem  the 
easier. 

With  fast  increasing  pressure  I  had  to  take  counsel 
with  myself  as  to  my  course.  The  small  original  sketch 
of  "  The  Light  of  the  World  "  was  but  little  advanced.  I 
could  complete  this  from  the  finished  picture  without 
expense  or  time  spent  in  arrangement,  or  in  the  search  for 
materials,  so  that  now  the  picture  having  won  reputa- 
tion, I  should  be  certain  of  not  having  to  wait  for  a  purchaser 
of  the  smaller  painting.  My  friends  at  Oxford  were  ever 
hospitable  and  helpful,  so  I  went  to  them,  and  worked 
from  the  picture  day  by  day. 

While  I  was  thus  engaged,  the  Member  of  Parliament 
for  the  city  determined  to  resign,  and  surprised  all  by 
bringing  down  Thackeray  as  ambitious  to  stand  in  his 
place.  They  addressed  a  public  meeting  and  issued  the 
usual  placards,  which  advertised  Thackeray's  Liberal  prin- 
ciples. Mr.  Combe  was  a  determined  Conservative,  but 
his  wife,  while  echoing  his  political  sentiments,  mollified 


FREDERICK    LEIGHTOX,    AGED    21,    RY    HIMSELF. 


n8          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

her  spouse  towards  the  author,  by  her  ardent  appreciation 
of  Colonel  Newcorae,  and  I  dwelt  upon  the  greatness  of 
Thackeray's  teaching  and  influence,  which  was  taken 
approvingly  ;  I  accordingly  wrote  to  tell  him  that  my 
friends,  although  not  of  his  party,  were  personally  inclined 
towards  him,  and  that  it  might  be  prudent  for  him  to 
call  with  a  view  to  gaining  their  support.  The  next 
morning  the  cards  of  the  retiring  and  the  proposed 
member  were  brought  up  to  me  in  the  absence  of 
both  my  hosts.  I  reported  Mr.  Combe  as  a  lover  of 
painting  and  a  patron  of  Millais,  Collins,  and  myself, 
and  at  their  request  I  showed  them  the  pictures  of 
the  house.  Thackeray  then  asked,  "  What  are  you 
doing  here?"  I  returned,  "I  am  working  at  the  first 
study  of  an  original  picture  of  mine."  "  Where  is 
it?"  said  he,  and  on  their  expressing  interest,  I  led 
them  to  my  painting  -  room.  When  in  front  of  the 
easel  there  was  silence,  which  awakened  in  me  bashful 
regret  at  my  invitation.  "  Ah  me  !  "  he  pondered 
aloud,  "  I  assume  that  we  must  regard  this  painting 
to  be  your  magnum  opus."  The  words  were  not  un- 
kindly intended  ;  had  I  been  in  better  spirits  and  not 
afraid  of  want  of  eloquence,  I  might  have  asked  him 
to  explain  his  sentiments  on  the  picture  unreservedly. 
I  winced  under  the  suspicion  that  he  regarded  the  work 
as  prompted  by  narrow  sectarianism  or  insincerity,  and 
I  was  ashamed  that  he  who  had  taught  me  so  much 
should  think  me  capable  of  either  feeling.  Mr.  Combe 
firmly  refused  his  vote  to  the  Liberal  side,  and  the 
majority  of  electors  were  too  slow  to  appreciate  the 
great  teacher. 

After  a  full  month's  strenuous  labour  my  task  was 
done.  Before  the  end,  my  good  mentor,  Mr.  Combe,  in 
our  evening  walks  on  Port  Meadow,  talked  much  about 
the  difficulty  of  my  monetary  position,  and  urged  that  I 
was  wrong  in  not  soliciting  election  by  the  Royal  Academy. 
Three  years  before,  as  a  refutation  to  the  provoked  sus- 
picion that  our  movement  was  intentionally  inimical  to 


v         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      119 

that  Institution,  Millais  and  I  had  put  down  our  names. 
In  the  election  of  1852  both  of  us  were  passed  over  ;  I 
had  not  expected  election,  but  my  compeer  was  at  first  very 
indignant,  and  wrote  to  me  at  Fairlight  to  declare  that  he 
would  never  have  anything  more  to  do  with  the  Body.  I 
knew  he  was  likely  to  go  about  declaring  this  intention, 
so  I  wrote  immediately,  saying  that  while  after  the 
"Ophelia"  and  the  "Huguenot"  it  was  monstrous  that 
his  claim  should  be  overlooked,  it  was  most  desirable 
he  should  not  hastily  make  so  important  a  resolve  ; 
that  he  knew  I  would  always  support  him  in  an  in- 
dependent course  if  after  deliberation  it  seemed  to  him 
wise,  but  I  felt  strongly  we  ought  to  take  full  time  to 
consider  the  matter  before  we  declared  any  such  inten- 
tion. A  second  letter  from  him  crossed  mine  on  the 
way,  saying  that  Mr.  Leslie  had  called,  explaining  that 
it  was  the  rule  against  admitting  any  candidate  under 
twenty  -  four  that  had  prevented  Millais  from  being 
elected,  and  that  he  was  sure  to  be  chosen  the  next 
year,  whereupon  he  said  he  was  appeased.  In  1853 
he  was  made  a  member,  and  our  combined  school 
loyalty  having  been  thus  expressed,  I  did  not  again 
become  a  candidate. 

The  unjust  treatment  of  Millais  by  the  hanging 
committee  in  the  first  year  after  his  Associateship,  and 
the  determined  bitterness  of  the  Academy  against  our 
disciples,  had  convinced  me  that  the  Institution,  con- 
ferring as  it  did  life -memberships,  enabled  those  of 
the  Body  whose  first  reputation  was  never  justified  by 
later  productions,  to  strengthen  a  scheming  minority 
whose  interest  it  was  to  keep  the  prestige  of  the  Insti- 
tution for  their  own  advantage,  and  to  delay  for  years, 
and  sometimes  for  ever,  the  acceptance  of  artists  of 
independent  power,  so  that  it  became  a  solid  hindrance 
to  the  best  interests  of  art. 

When  the  Academy  had  first  been  founded,  the  full 
number  of  sixty  members  could  not  be  made  up  from 
British  artists,  and  it  was  supplemented  by  many  foreigners. 


120         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

At  that  date,  therefore,  there  remained  no  able  outsiders 
aggrieved.  The  numbers  of  the  profession  since  then 
had  increased  so  much  that  the  institution  now  contained 
only  a  section  of  competent  English  artists.  In  every 
respect  a  revision  of  the  original  laws  was  needed,  especially 
as  to  lifelong  membership.  When  a  single  large-minded 
artist  was  elected,  his  attempts  at  reform  were  resolutely 
ignored.  It  was  proved  that  a  healthy  renovation,  to  suit 
altered  circumstances,  could  not  come  from  within,  for  the 
hinderers  of  progress  were  too  numerous.  Maclise  and 
E.  M.  Ward  had  taken  the  first  opportunity  at  a  Council 
to  lay  down  their  views  as  to  the  necessary  alteration  to 
be  made,  but  their  motions  had  been  received  in  blank 
astonishment  and  the  question  whether  there  was  "  any 
further  business  to  discuss,"  so  that  all  would-be 
reformers  ceased  to  bestir  themselves.  Linnell's  example, 
with  that  of  others,  had  been  of  good  service  to  us, 
for  they  had  gained  public  regard  despite  the  enmity 
of  the  Institution,  and  had  quietly  gone  on  exhibiting 
at  the  Academy,  leading  courageous  patrons  to  feel 
that  election  to  the  Body  was  not  the  only  stamp  of 
superiority.  For  these  reasons  I  wished  to  remain  an 
outsider,  hoping  that  in  some  way  I  might  thus,  with 
the  help  of  others,  do  a  wholesome  service  to  the  pro- 
fession. Further  talk  on  the  question  with  Mr.  Combe 
proceeded  thus  :— 

"You  remember  how  they  treated  Millais  with  his 
'Fireman'  last  year;  their  behaviour  proved  how  little 
his  election  was  a  mark  of  their  repentance  or  of  any 
change  in  them,  beyond  a  conviction  of  the  need  of 
separating  us,  the  active  Pre-Raphaelites.  I  would  not 
imply  that  any  of  the  members  are  intentionally  dis- 
honest ;  on  the  contrary,  many  are  men  of  high  honour, 
but  an  Institution  so  entirely  unchecked  in  the  exercise  of 
power  was  not  framed  for  ordinary  humanity,  least  of  all 
for  men  who  find  constant  difficulty  in  obtaining  support 
for  themselves  and  their  families  by  their  profession.  Yet 
it  is  impossible  to  ignore  the  enormous  advantage  of 


v         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      121 

membership  in  a  pecuniary  sense  to  either  competent  or 
incompetent  artists." 

Mr.  Combe,  knowing  this,  and  also  how  slow  the 
world  of  patrons  was  in  getting  reconciled  to  my  new 
work,  strongly  argued  with  me  against  my  resolution  of 
holding  aloof  from  the  Academy.  The  matter  was  not 
settled  until  the  eve  of  the  last  day  of  July,  and  as 
the  morrow  was  the  final  day  for  applicants  to  the 
Institution  to  subscribe  their  names,  my  good  friend 
pressed  me  not  to  let  the  opportunity  pass.  It  was 
undeniable  that  I  could  not  afford  to  court  the  per- 
petuation of  my  difficulties,  so  I  undertook  to  go  to 
town  in  the  morning  to  enrol  myself  for  the  winter 
election. 

There  were  many  other  affairs  I  had  to  attend  to  ; 
when  I  arrived  at  the  clerk's  office  of  the  Royal  Academy 
it  was  nearly  striking  four,  and  the  official,  to  my  surprise 
(although  I  knew  he  was  a  very  masterful  underling),  was 
shutting  up  his  door.  To  my  request  for  attention  he 
declared  that  it  was  too  late,  and  refused  to  take  my  name. 
I  would  not  bandy  arguments  with  him,  but  at  once  set 
off  to  Mr.  Knight,  the  secretary,  who  was  fortunately 
at  home.  I  acquainted  him  with  the  clerk's  refusal, 
and  told  him  that  the  man  had  objected  that  it  was 
too  near  four  o'clock  for  further  business.  Mr. 
Knight,  glancing  at  his  watch,  interjected,  "  Why,  it 
is  now  only  a  few  minutes  past  four,  the  clerk's 
excuse  is  unjustifiable,"  and  he  at  once  promised  that 
my  name  should  be  inscribed,  adding  pleasantly  that 
he  could  say  sincerely  that  he  hoped  I  should  be 
elected. 

Independently  ot  the  contentment  felt  at  having 
acted  on  the  advice  of  a  good  friend  with  sound  practical 
judgment,  I  was  glad  that  I  had  put  to  the  test  the 
estimate  which  the  Academy  set  upon  my  claim  to 
recognition.  I  had  now  nothing  further  to  do  in  this 
matter  than  to  wait  for  the  result  of  the  election  several 
months  later.  When  the  Exhibition  was  just  closing, 


122         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

I  received  a  communication  from  Mr.  Windus  that  he 
would  buy  "  The  Scapegoat "  for  450  guineas,  if  I 
would  forego  my  claim  to  the  copyright,  and  this  I 
agreed  to  do. 

I  had  been  continually  hearing  of  Watts'  personality 
from  friends,  but  so  far  I  had  not  seen  him.  A 
common  acquaintance  brought  me  a  cordial  invita- 
tion from  him  to  come  to  his  studio.  It  was  a 
wonderful  home  in  which  he  lived,  both  for  its  surround- 
ings and  its  inmates.  It  had,  in  Addison's  days,  been  a 
farmhouse,  but  as  London  had  come  near  to  it  the  farmer 
had  gone  further  afield,  and  its  closeness  to  town  had 
made  it  a  delectable  family  home.  A  still-remembered 
duel,  in  which  one  combatant  had  been  killed,  occurred 
in  the  beginning  of  the  century  in  the  handsomely  elmed 
grounds.  The  present  occupant,  Mr.  Prinsep,  had  been 
there  a  few  years  on  his  retirement  from  official  life  in 
India,  but  he  still  served  as  a  Director  of  the  East  India 
Company.  Watts  had  been  brought  there  when  he  was 
ill,  to  be  nursed  into  health  by  the  impulsive  kindness  of 
the  hostess,  and  he  became  so  great  a  favourite  with  all 
the  family  that  he  built  a  studio  and  remained.  At  the 
time  of  my  visit  he  had  two  painting-rooms,  and  a  third 
in  course  of  building.  It  was  indeed  a  delight  to  see 
a  painter  of  the  day  with  such  dream -like  opportuni- 
ties and  powers  of  exercising  his  genius.  It  was  more 
than  a  happy  combination,  for  one  may  safely  assert  that 
nowhere  else  in  England  would  it  have  been  possible  to 
enter  a  house  with  such  a  singular  variety  of  beautiful 
persons  inhabiting  it.  The  sisters  of  the  lady  were  seen 
in  all  their  dignified  beauty  in  Watts'  fine  portraits,  and 
other  beautiful  sitters  had  been  attracted  to  his  studio, 
as  was  witnessed  by  their  delightful  portraits  upon  his 
walls. 

At  the  date  of  my  visit  the  beautiful  Emma  Brand- 
ling, afterwards  Lady  Lilford,  was  a  cherished  guest.  I 
had  known  her  brother,  Henry  Brandling,  as  a  student  at 
the  Academy,  and  I  had  heard  Charley  Collins  speak  of 


v         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      123 

her  with  worship.  The  father  of  this  young  lady  had 
made  a  noble  sacrifice  of  his  wealth  by  supporting  George 
Stephenson  in  the  expenses  of  his  sturdy  struggle  to  be 
allowed  to  endow  the  world  with  his  beneficent  invention. 
A  portrait  by  Watts  of  the  lady  at  that  time  will  prove 
how  much  admiration  of  her  grace  was  justified.  Watts' 
likenesses  were  not  flattered,  a  phrase  which  always  means 
that  the  real  strength  and  character  are  taken  out,  no 
peculiarity  was  softened  down,  the  very  fulness  of  person- 
ality was  given  ;  but  it  was  the  incarnation  of  the  soul 
rather  than  the  accidental  aspect.  The  drawing  of  heads, 
such  as  that  of  Mr.  Wrright  of  Manchester,  of  Layard,  and 
others,  now  in  the  National  Collection,  which  were  then 
on  his  walls,  are  not  second  to  those  of  the  greatest 
painters,  Raphael,  Titian,  Tintoretto,  Rembrandt, 
Rubens,  or  Vandyck,  the  great  English  portraitist.  In 
respect  to  his  fulness  of  rendering  of  the  human 
form,  I  was  fain  to  regard  Watts  as  an  ideal  Pre- 
Raphaelite. 

He  soon  came  to  see  my  oft  retarded  picture.  I  felt 
ashamed  of  its  smallness,  but  he  had  the  catholicity  of 
interest  for  other  work  than  his  own  that  all  true  artists 
retain. 

On  leaving  Little  Holland  House  I  was  cordially 
urged  by  Mrs.  Prinsep  to  repeat  my  visit,  and  on  doing 
so  I  became  acquainted  with  her  sisters.  Mrs.  Cameron 
was  perhaps  the  most  perseveringly  demonstrative  in  the 
disposition  to  cultivate  the  society  of  men  of  letters  and 
of  art  ;  her  husband,  like  Mr.  Prinsep,  was  an  East  India 
Director. 

One  day  when  Woolner  and  I  happened  to  be  going 
to  dine  at  Combehurst  on  Wimbledon  Common,  Mrs. 
Cameron  kindly  asked  us  to  stay  on  our  way  at  her 
house  at  Roehampton,  as  "  the  great  Tennyson "  was 
there  ;  there  could  be  no  stronger  attraction,  as  I  had 
repeatedly  been  prevented  from  meeting  him.  Woolner's 
admirably  executed  medallion  sketch  had  led  me  to  expect 
a  man  of  somewhat  haughty  bearing,  but  he  whom  I  met 


i24         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

was  markedly  unostentatious  and  modest  in  his  mien,  as 
though  from  the  first  courting  trustfulness  ;  his  head  was 
nobly  poised  on  his  grand  columnar  neck,  rarely  held 
erect,  but  inclined  towards  whomever  he  addressed  with 
unaffected  attention  ;  he  was  swarthy  of  complexion,  his 
black  hair  hanging  in  curls  over  his  domed  head  ;  he  had 
a  great  girth  of  shoulder,  resembling  many  a  Syrian  Arab 
I  had  met.  As  I  entered  he  turned  and  said,  with  a 
ring  of  simple  cordiality,  slowly,  in  sonorous  voice,  "  I  have 
been  wanting  to  know  you  for  some  while.  I  am  told 
that  you  never  received  my  letter  thanking  you  for  the 
Latakia  tobacco  which  you  bought  at  Baalbec  from  the 
farmer  who  had  grown  and  dried  it.  I  felt  I  wanted  to 
recognise  your  kindness  of  thinking  of  me  and  to  say 
what  good  flavour  the  tobacco  had.  The  letter  had  my 
name  outside  and  should  not  have  miscarried.  I  was 
always  interested  in  your  paintings,  and  lately  your 
illustrations  to  my  poems  have  strongly  engaged  my 
attention!"  After  some  general  talk  he  said,  "I  must 
now  ask  why  did  you  make  the  Lady  of  Shalott,  in 
the  illustration,  with  her  hair  wildly  tossed  about  as  if 
by  a  tornado  ?  " 

Rather  perplexed,  I  replied  that  I  had  wished  to 
convey  the  idea  of  the  threatened  fatality  by  reversing 
the  ordinary  peace  of  the  room  and  of  the  lady  herself ; 
that  while  she  recognised  that  the  moment  of  the 
catastrophe  had  come,  the  spectator  might  also  under- 
stand it. 

"  But  I  didn't  say  that  her  hair  was  blown  about  like 
that.  Then  there  is  another  question  I  want  to  ask  you. 
Why  did  you  make  the  web  wind  round  and  round  her 
like  the  threads  of  a  cocoon  ?  " 

"  Now,"  I  exclaimed,  "  surely  that  may  be  justified,  for 
you  say- 
Out  flc\v  the  \veb  and  floated  wide  ; 
The  mirror  crack'd  from  side  to  side  ; 

a   mark  of  the  dire  calamity  that  had  come   upon   her." 


v         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      125 

But  Tennyson  broke  in,  "  But  I  did  not  say  it  floated  round 
and  round  her."  My  defence  was,  "  May  I  not  urge  that 
I  had  only  half  a  page  on  which  to  convey  the  impres- 
sion of  weird  fate,  whereas  you  use  about  fifteen  pages 
to  give  expression  to  the  complete  idea  ? "  But 
Tennyson  laid  it  down  that  "  an  illustrator  ought 
never  to  add  anything  to  what  he  finds  in  the  text." 
Then  leaving  the  question  of  the  fated  lady,  he  per- 
sisted, "  Why  did  you  make  Cophetua  leading  the  beggar 
maid  up  a  flight  of  steps  ?  I  never  spoke  of  a  flight  of 
steps." 

"  Don't  you  say — 

In  robe  and  crown 
The  King  stepped  down, 
To  meet  and  greet  her 
On  her  way. 

Does  not  the  old  ballad  originally  giving  the  story  say 
something  clearly  to  this  effect  ?  If  so,  I  claim  double 
warrant  for  my  interpretation.  I  feel  that  you  do  not 
enough  allow  for  the  difference  of  requirements  in  our 
two  arts.  In  mine  it  is  needful  to  trace  the  end  from 
the  beginning  in  one  representation.  You  can  dispense 
with  such  a  licence.  In  both  arts  it  is  essential  that 
the  meaning  should  appear  clear  and  strong.  Am  I  not 
right  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  "  but  I  think  the  illustrator  should 
always  adhere  to  the  words  of  the  poet!  " 

"  Ah,  if  so,  I  am  afraid  I  was  not  a  suitable  designer 
for  the  book."  This  I  said  playfully,  when  he  returned, 
"  You  don't  mind  my  having  spoken  my  conviction  so 
frankly  ?"  To  which  I  replied  that  I  was  only  too  honoured 
by  his  having  treated  me  thus  candidly. 

When  I  returned  to  town  after  my  Oxford  work,  I 
found  the  Brownings  had  come  to  London,  and  soon 
Gabriel  and  I  were  invited  to  spend  the  evening  with 
them.  When  the  appointed  hour  approached  I  had  a 
return  of  ague  upon  me,  but  I  would  not  allow  myself 


126         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

to  lose  the  opportunity  of  meeting  the  poet  ;  he  and  his 
wife  were  extremely  unaffected  and  genial.  Browning 
was  taller  than  he  had  been  described  to  me,  perhaps  about 
five  feet  six,  robust  and  hearty  in  his  tone  of  interest 
in  all  questions  discussed,  but  I  felt  some  self-reproach 
in  so  faintly  recognising  in  him  the  stamp  of  a  man  as 
elevated  above  his  fellows  as  his  noblest  poems  proved 
him  to  be. 

Mrs.  Browning  was  also  small,  and,  with  this,  fragile  ; 
she  betrayed  nervous  anxiety  in  her  eager  manner,  so 
that  the  supersensitive  tenor  of  her  poems  seemed  fitly 
embodied  in  her.  Her  hair  was  brought  forward  in 
ringlets  on  her  face  in  a  manner  quite  out  of  fashion,  and 
thus  helped  to  make  one  feel  that  she  disregarded  all 
changes  of  mode  since  her  youth.  The  special  interest 
of  the  evening  was  the  production  of  a  poem  by 
their  son,  aged  about  six,  the  subject  Leighton's 
picture  of  "Orpheus  and  Eurydice."  It  was,  even 
taking  the  child's  parentage  into  consideration,  a  wonder- 
ful example  of  precocity. 

Gabriel  seemed  throughout  the  evening  over  apt  to 
break  in  with  jocular  interruption  to  the  conversation,  as 
though  claiming  proprietorship  in  the  company  present  ; 
it  was  easy  to  yield  to  him  in  this  whim,  since  it  happened 
that  we  were  all  his  debtors  for  the  first  knowledge  of  the 
works  of  our  new  friends. 

Soon  after  my  concession  to  the  prejudices  of  fortune 
in  becoming  a  candidate  for  Royal  Academy  member- 
ship, my  dear  father,  who  had  become  enfeebled  of 
late  by  the  worry  caused  by  legal  but  inequitable  claims 
connected  with  the  property  he  had  bought,  suddenly 
determined  to  go  to  the  seaside  for  his  usual  holiday. 
The  resolution  was  so  immediately  acted  upon,  that  it 
was  decided  he  should  go  alone,  and  that  my  mother  should 
follow  the  next  day  ;  it  happened  that  a  thunderstorm, 
which  had  ever  had  a  fascination  for  him,  was  at  its  full 
force  when  he  arrived  at  Folkestone  ;  he  learnt  that  a  ship 
was  in  the  agonies  of  wreck  on  the  rocks,  and  deciding  on 


v         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      127 

a  lodging  only  to  deposit  his  luggage,  hastened  to  the  cliffs, 
where  he  stood  in  the  pelting  rain  for  hours,  entranced  by 
the  tragic  spectacle  ;  returning  to  shelter  he  felt  cold,  and, 
refusing  food,  went  to  bed.  On  my  mother's  arrival  the 
next  morning  he  was  feverish,  and  the  doctor's  verdict 
was  that  he  had  contracted  inflammation  of  the  lungs  ;  he 
returned  to  town  seriously  ill,  and  despite  the  constant 
and  kind  attention  of  Sir  Richard  Quain,  we  soon  had  to 
recognise  that  he  was  past  all  human  aid. 

While  in  attendance  upon  my  father,  I  was  gratified 
by  a  declaration  from  him  that  he  was  at  last  thoroughly 
satisfied  that  my  independent  course  in  adopting  my 
profession  was  justified.  "  I  had  hoped  to  see  you  with  a 
substantial  fortune  before  you  in  the  city,"  he  said,  "  but 
you  have  proved  your  passion  for  art  to  be  so  strong, 
that  you  work  even  against  unforeseen  difficulties  ;  this 
shows  it  is  your  natural  occupation.  Your  profession 
provides  fortunes  but  for  few.  I  had  hoped  to  see  some 
indication  by  now  that  you  would  be  one  of  these,  but 
your  pictures  evidently  do  not  meet  the  taste  that  is  in 
vogue  with  picture  -  buyers,  and  you  spend  so  much 
thought,  time,  and  money  upon  them,  that  what  would 
be  a  good  price  for  the  works  of  most  others  is  but  poor 
payment  for  you."  All  I  could  do  was  to  assure  him  that 
I  was  certain  of  my  course,  and  that  his  confidence  made 
me  accept  the  penalty  with  patience  and  without  fear,  and 
I  thanked  him  for  the  admission,  that  the  anxiety  I  had 
caused  him  had  not  been  wantonly  or  idly  given,  and 
conjured  him  not  to  fret  about  the  prospects  of  the 
family.  I  watched  him  until  his  life  ebbed  away,  and  he 
sank  in  peaceful  spirit  into  his  last  sleep. 

About  the  end  of  the  season,  Seddon  called  upon  me 
to  ask  advice  about  a  new  idea  of  his  that  he  should 
return  to  the  East,  to  make  use  of  the  knowledge  he  had 
acquired  there  for  the  painting  of  landscape,  as  the 
most  likely  means  of  enabling  him  to  secure  reputation. 
I  had  no  doubt  that  the  plan  was  the  best  that  offered 
for  him.  He  left  soon  after,  and  we  heard  of  his  arrival 


128         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

at  Alexandria  and  his  advance  to  Cairo,  whence  he  wrote 
to  me  of  plans  he  had  made,  but  soon  news  came  of  an 
attack  of  dysentery,  and  then  came  an  interval  of  no 
letters,  followed  by  his  death.  Great  sympathy  was 
expressed  for  the  widow  and  child,  and  Rossetti  proposed 
that  each  of  his  painter  friends  should  take  up  one  of  the 
unfinished  works  of  the  deceased,  and  bring  it  to  com- 
pletion. Brown,  with  generous  enthusiasm,  put  this 
proposal  into  execution  on  a  very  embryonic  painting 
of  Penelope,  but  the  other  pictures  were  left  without 
additional  work,  partly,  perhaps,  because  most  of  them 
could  be  finished  only  in  the  East.  As  I  was  hard  pressed 
by  my  own  work  and  had  given  time  to  complete  a  water- 
colour  of  his  when  he  left  Syria  so  suddenly  in  1854,  I  did 
not  take  part  in  this  work.  A  meeting  was  held,  at  which 
Lord  Goodrich  presided,  and  Ruskin  made  an  address  at 
the  Society  of  Arts,  in  which,  misled  as  to  the  true  work- 
man, he  said  that  while  beforehand  he  had  only  regarded 
Seddon  as  a  landscape  painter  of  great  promise,  he  now 
saw  by  the  "  Penelope  "  that  he  was  also  a  great  figure 
painter  ;  this  was  the  prelude  to  much  generous  laudation 
of  Seddon's  landscapes  ;  it  was  resolved  to  appeal  to  the 
public  for  subscriptions  as  a  testimonial  to  Thomas  Seddon. 
A  sum  of  £600  was  collected,  and  out  of  this  ^400  was 
voted  for  the  purchase  of  a  picture  of  Jerusalem  and  the 
Mount  of  Olives. 

It  was  impossible  for  me  to  attain  the  object,  accord- 
ing to  my  father's  wish,  of  teaching  my  sister  to  paint 
in  my  bachelor  home  at  Pimlico.  I  had,  therefore,  to  find 
a  fresh  house.  J.  C.  Hook  was  giving  up  the  class  of 
Venetian  subjects  which  he  had  hitherto  executed  with 
grace  of  form  and  sweetness  of  colour  ;  he  now  devoted 
himself  to  landscape  and  seascape,  and  for  these  he 
proposed  to  live  in  the  country.  His  house  on  Campden 
Hill  was  now  to  let,  and  I  determined  to  take  it,  in 
pursuance  of  Sir  William  Gull's  advice,  after  curing 
me  of  Syrian  fever,  that  I  should  always  live  on  high 
ground. 


v         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      129 

I  sent  the  finished  replica  of  "  The  Light  of  the 
World "  to  an  exhibition  at  Boston,  undertaken  by  a 
collector  of  Turner  drawings  much  spoken  of  by  Ruskin  ; 
my  picture  was  sold  for  300  guineas. 

At  a  dinner  to  which  Lady  Goodrich  was  kind  enough 
to  invite  me,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Carlyle  were  amongst  the  guests, 
accompanied  by  Henry  Bruce,  afterwards  Lord  Aberdare, 
who  had  undertaken  to  draw  out  the  Chelsea  sage.  There 
was  a  large  company,  some  of  whom  I  did  not  know. 
Mrs.  Carlyle  was  the  lady  allotted  to  me.  She  sat  on 
my  left,  and  Carlyle  was  exactly  opposite.  Mrs.  Carlyle 
assailed  me  for  my  opinion  anent  the  marriage  of  Millais 
with  Mrs.  Ruskin  ;  I  defended  him  strenuously,  say- 
ing that  the  lady  had  ceased  to  be  Mrs.  Ruskin 
by  the  nullification  of  her  marriage  as  declared  by 
the  Scotch  Court.  Millais  had  not  run  away  with 
her,  I  said,  but  had  waited  to  claim  her  in  her  father's 
house,  a  full  year  after  the  day  she  left  Ruskin.  "  If 
because  husband  and  wife  are  not  in  accord  they 
should  separate,  many  marriages  would  be  annulled," 
she  argued. 

I  had  not  been  able  to  turn  to  -the  lady  on  my  right, 
nor  had  I  been  able  to  listen  to  the  torrent  of  talk  on 
the  opposite  side  of  the  table,  which  proceeded  almost 
exclusively  from  the  modern  seer. 

When  the  ladies   rose  from  table  and  we  were  again 

o 

seated,  I  found  that  the  man  on  my  right  was  rather 
short,  with  thick  black  hair  growing  up,  in  what,  from 
French  Revolutionary  times,  was  called  the  Brutus  fashion  ; 
he  sidled  up  to  me,  and  in  an  undertone  inquired  if 
I  knew  the  name  of  "  the  gentleman  who  talked  so 
much."  "Yes,"  1  whispered,  "he  is  Thomas  Carlyle"; 
then  after  a  short  pause  he  inquired,  "  What  does 
he  do  ?  "  "  He  is  the  celebrated  writer."  At  this  my 
new  friend  muttered,  ''  Ah,  yes.  He's  the  atheist !  " 
"  No,"  I  corrected  him,  with  voice  directed  low,  "  you 
are  thinking  of  another  man  of  the  same  name  who 
has  been  dead  some  years.  He  was  a  professed  atheist. 

VOL.    II  K 


130         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Thomas  Carlyle  says  it  is  better  to  have  Mum  bo- Jumbo 
than  no  God  at  all."  My  interrogator  then  asked 
me  to  tell  him  what  works  Carlyle  had  written.  I 
spoke  of  his  translations  from  the  German,  of  The 
French  Revolution,  of  The  Life  and  Letters  of  Cromwell, 
of  The  Latter-day  Pamphlets.  To  satisfy  his  curiosity 
still  further  he  drew  himself  up  to  scrutinise  the 
object  of  his  inquiry.  At  the  moment  Henry  Bruce 
spoke  across  the  table  to  my  neighbour,  "  Sir  Colin 
Campbell  !  my  friend  Mr.  Carlyle  is  at  the  present 
time  engaged  upon  a  history  in  which  acquaintance 
with  military  life  is  much  called  for.  I  am  quite  sure 
that  if  you  would  be  good  enough  to  recount  to  us 
some  of  your  own  adventures  in  the  field,  it  would 
be  of  value  to  Mr.  Carlyle,  and  of  not  less  interest  to 
the  rest  of  us."  This  appeal  helped  me  to  identify 
my  quiet  neighbour,  and  I  looked  at  him  with  suspense  ; 
his  reply  was  curtly  conclusive,  "  But  I've  nothing  to  tell." 

"Sir  Colin,"  returned  Mr.  Bruce,  "it  is  reported 
in  the  history  of  your  campaign  in  the  Peshawur  district, 
that  when  in  command  of  700  men  you  had  marched 
through  a  defile  and  had  debouched  into  the  plain,  you  were 
suddenly  informed  that  a  force  of  30,000  native  troops 
were  only  a  couple  of  hours  behind  you,  and  that  they 
were  hastening  to  destroy  your  company.  You  then,  it  is 
said,  immediately  turned  your  troops  about  and  made  them 
scale  the  heights  and  march  unseen  until  you  were  in  the 
rear  of  your  enemy,  and  then  you,  to  their  great  dismay, 
appeared  on  the  heights  and  surprised  them  by  a  bold 
descent  on  to  their  rear.  The  enemy,  concluding  that 
there  must  be  a  large  army  in  front,  were  seized  by 
sudden  panic,  became  confused  and  disordered,  and  were 
then  quickly  defeated  by  your  small  contingent.  Now, 
may  I  ask  whether  this  account  of  your  action  is 
correct  ? " 

Sir  Colin  Campbell  had  no  choice  but  to  reply  in  some 
form  ;  while  all  were  intent  on  listening  he  simply  said, 
"  Well,  there  was  nothing  else  to  do." 


v         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      131 

The  persevering  Mr.  Bruce  could  make  nothing  more 
out  of  the  taciturn  hero.  He  then  appealed  to  Carlyle 
to  say  what  he  thought  of  Froude's  defence  of  Henry 
VIII.  in  his  History  of  England. 

"  For  that  matter,"  replied  the  Chelsea  philosopher, 
"I  cannot  say  much,  for  I  have  not  yet  read  it,  but 
I've  always  esteemed  Henry  to  be  a  much  maligned 
man.  When  I  look  into  that  broad  yeoman-built  face 
and  see  those  brave  blue  eyes  of  his,  as  they  are  seen 
in  the  Holbein  portrait,  I  must  conclude  that  an  honest 
soul  resided  within  his  sturdy  body."  Raising  his  voice 
then  to  a  treble,  he  continued,  "  He  certainly  had  much 
trouble  with  his  wives.  I  won't  pretend  to  decide  any- 
thing for  or  against  his  divorce  from  Katherine,  or  the 
execution  of  the  others  ;  whether  or  not  they  deserved  it 
•depends  upon  evidence  that  I  have  not  seen  :  this  is  a 
personal  matter  ;  but  the  great  charge  against  the  man  is, 
that  he  had  seventy  thousand  men  hung  for  no  ostensible 
crime  whatever,  merely  because  they  were  rogues  and 
vagabonds.  Now  that  seems  like  a  serious  incrimination, 
but  then  we  have  to  consider  the  state  of  the  country  at 
the  time.  Until  thirty  years  before  the  whole  country 
had  only  a  waste  population  ready  to  be  engaged  on 
one  side  or  the  other  of  the  York  and  Lancaster  wars,  to 
cut  one  another's  throats.  Such  a  national  fury  it  is 
difficult  to  quench.  Stalwart  rascals  were  roving  about, 
ready  to  do  any  unholy  thing,  and  a  good  ruler  was 
bound  to  eradicate  marauders  of  all  kinds.  Henry 
would  not  tolerate  them.  He  ordained  that  any  man 
brought  up  who  could  not  prove  that  he  gained  his 
living  by  useful  work  should  be  branded  with  a  hot 
iron,  and  for  a  second  offence  ordered  straight  off  to  the 
gallows." 

Carlyle's  emphasis  had  gradually  subsided,  but  again 
he  raised  his  voice,  saying,  "  If  any  one  here  would  like 
to  come  to  me  at  Chelsea  to-morrow  morning  I  would 
undertake  to  lead  him  to  a  spot,  a  hundred  yards  from 
my  door,  where  we  should  find  thirty  vagabonds  leaning 


132         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

against  the  rail  which  divides  the  river  from  the  road, 
and  although  these  men  have  never  been,  as  far  as  I 
know,  convicted  of  any  particular  crime  whatever,  I  will 
not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  they  would  be  all  the  better  for 
hanging,  both  for  their  own  sakes  and  for  every  one  con- 
cerned. Now,  if  you'll  consider  with  me  that  I  am  only 
pointing  out  the  case  of  one  particular  parish  in  London, 
or  a  part  of  it,  and  if  you  will  calculate  the  number  of 
parishes  there  are  in  the  metropolis  alone,  and  then 
extend  your  view  over  the  whole  country,  you  will  agree 
that  seventy  thousand  men  was  not  by  any  means  an 
extravagant  number  of  irredeemable  ne'er-do-wells  whose 
suppression  was  put  down  to  poor  Henry's  evil  account." 
The  silent  guest,  the  slayer  of  hundreds  in  open  warfare, 
who  had  interrogated  me,  stared  with  wide  eyes  at  the 
eloquent  talker  as  he  condemned  this  number  of  hapless 
men  to  death,  while  in  fact  he  would  never  have  killed  a  fly. 
Underlying  all  his  idea  of  justice  was  the  law  that  if  a 
man  will  not  work  neither  shall  he  live.  The  judgment 
upon  the  negro  question  in  Jamaica  was  actuated  by  this 
feeling,  and  he  seemed  more  impelled  to  enforce  the 
principle,  because  there  were  many  doctrinaires  prating 
that  men  should  be  encouraged  to  regard  labour  as  a 
degrading  affliction  rather  than  an  ennobling  blessing. 
It  was  the  more  interesting  to  me  to  remember  the  above 
colloquy,  when  a  few  months  later  Sir  Colin  Campbell  was 
called  upon  by  the  Government  to  go  out  and  "  do,"  when 
"there  was  nothing  else  to  do,"  what  he  did  in  quelling 
the  Indian  Mutiny. 

Every  time  I  visited  Oxford  I  heard  more  of  the 
sensation  Rossetti  was  making  there.  Ruskin  was  taking 
the  responsibility  of  directing  the  architect  Woodward, 
who,  with  his  partner  Deane,  was  engaged  in  building 
the  new  Museum,  and  it  was  still  said  that  Rossetti 
would  return  to  Oxford  to  paint  some  of  the  walls. 
But  as  the  building  was  not  yet  ready,  and  the  rooms 
of  the  Union  built  by  the  same  architects  were  advanced 
to  the  stage  at  which  the  bare  walls  were  temptingly 


v         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      133 

smooth  and  white,  Rossetti  had  volunteered  to  paint  upon 
them  the  story  of  King  Arthur  with  no  other  charge  but 
for  the  materials.  Arthur  Hughes  was  helping  him  in  this 
enterprise.  It  was  in  character  with  Rossetti's  sanguine 
enthusiasm  that  he  induced  many  undergraduates,  with 
little  or  no  previous  training,  to  undertake  to  cover 
certain  spaces.  Edward  Burne  Jones,  William  Morris, 
and  Spencer  Stanhope  were  persuaded  to  take  part  in  the 
work,  the  last  only,  having  had  any  preliminary  training. 
I  saw  my  name  inscribed  on  a  fine  blank  panel,  and  nothing 
would  have  delighted  me  more  than  to  have  contributed 
my  share  to  the  decorations,  but  I  had  too  many  stronger 
claims  to  allow  me  to  undertake  this  mural  work.  Some 
of  those  connected  with  the  Council  of  the  Union,  I 
heard,  saw  little  to  be  grateful  for  in  the  generosity  of 
the  young  decorators,  and  expressed  themselves  dis- 
courteously ;  perhaps  it  was  this,  coming  to  Rossetti's 
ears,  that  disenchanted  him  with  his  design,  for  he  left  it 
abruptly  half-finished  and  returned  to  town,  refusing 
all  allurements  of  Ruskin  and  others  to  carry  it  further. 
Without  previous  experience  of  wall-painting,  and  dis- 
regarding the  character  of  the  pigments,  the  work  of 
the  group  was  doomed  to  change  and  perish  speedily, 
and  nothing  of  it  now  remains.  Rossetti  had  lighted 
upon  remarkable  undergraduates  of  great  genius,  to 
which  choice  band  was  added  Swinburne  of  poetic 
genius. 

Calling  one  day  on  Gabriel  at  his  rooms  in  Blackfriars, 
I  saw,  sitting  at  a  second  easel,  an  ingenuous  and  particu- 
larly gentle  young  man  whose  modest  bearing  and  enthusi- 
asm at  once  charmed.  He  was  introduced  to  me  as 
Jones,  and  was  called  "Ned." 

Although  what  Rossetti  had  painted  at  Oxford  had 
not  pleased  the  persons  most  immediately  concerned,  his 
reputation  grew  there  with  those  reputed  to  be  con- 
noisseurs in  taste.  The  fame  that  his  poetry  had  won 
tor  him  enlarged  the  faith  in  his  art  powers.  His  five 
or  six  years  of  seniority  over  his  disciples  gave  him  a  voice 


134  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.V 

of  authority  over  them,  and  Ruskin's  ever  -  increasing 
praise  perhaps  did  more  than  all  in  spreading  the  idea  of 
what  his  brother  calls  his  "  leadership."  Retirement,  there- 
fore, from  the  outward  struggle  was  no  longer  a  disad- 
vantage, but  a  boundless  gain  to  him,  for  when  any 
uninitiated  commentator  on  the  works  of  Millais,  which 
appeared  year  by  year,  expressed  his  opinion  about  the 
progress  of  our  reform  movement,  he  was  at  once  told 
that  what  Millais  or  any  other  had  done  towards  it  was 
only  a  vulgar  reflection  of  Rossetti's  purpose,  that  Rossetti 
disapproved  of  public  exhibition,  and  that  his  studio  could 
be  visited  only  by  a  favoured  few. 

From  this  time  he  avoided  Millais,  Woolner,  and  my- 
self to  a  degree  that  proved  to  be  more  than  unstudied. 
Woolner  did  not  accept  this  new  attitude  passively.  He 
told  me  that  on  the  occasion  of  a  walk  with  Gabriel  in 
the  fields  at  Hampstead  the  latter  spoke  of  his  position  so 
much  as  that  of  originator  or  head  of  the  Brotherhood 
that  Woolner,  although,  in  allusion  to  his  medievalism,  he 
had  habitually  addressed  him  as  the  "Arch  Pre-Raphaelite," 
said,  "  I  wasn't  going  to  humour  his  seriously  making 
such  a  preposterous  claim,  so  I  told  him  that  it  was 
against  all  the  known  facts  of  the  case.  At  which 
he  became  moody  and  displeased,  and  so  went  home 
alone."  This  is  a  sad  page  of  my  record,  but  in 
friendly  combinations  for  a  particular  object  such 
revulsions  from  harmony,  which  could  not  have  been 
foreseen,  are  in  accordance  with  the  experience  of  all 
ages. 

In  furnishing  my  new  house  I  was  determined,  as 
far  as  possible,  to  eschew  the  vulgar  furniture  of  the 
day.  Articles  for  constant  practical  use  were  somewhat 
regulated  by  necessity  ;  but  in  the  living  rooms  I  could 
exercise  control.  For  ordinary  seats  Windsor  chairs 
satisfied  me,  but  I  kept  these  in  countenance  by  a 
handsome  arm-chair  of  old  English  form,  and  devised 
an  ornamental  scroll  and  shield,  with  my  monogram 
to  give  it  individuality.  A  more  independent  effort 


136         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

was  the  designing  of  a  chair,  based  on  the  character  of 
an  Egyptian  stool  in  the  British  Museum,  to  serve  as  a 
permanent  piece  of  beautiful  furniture.  All  these  were 
excellently  made  by  Messrs.  Grace  ;  to  these  was  added  the 
sideboard  given  by  my  generous  friend,  Augustus  Egg, 
in  recognition  of  my  love  of  pure  form  in  furniture.  In 
course  of  time  I  added  to  these  a  Portuguese  cabinet  and 
a  Spanish  one  for  my  studio.  I  had  here  to  restrain 
further  expenditure,  still,  I  had  done  as  much  as  I  could 
to  prove  my  theory  that  the  designing  of  furniture  is 
the  legitimate  work  of  the  artist.  When  I  showed  my 
small  group  of  household  joys  to  my  P.R.B.  friends  the 
contagion  spread,  and  Brown,  who  idolised  the  Egyptian 
chairs,  set  a  carpenter  to  work  to  make  some  of  similar 
proportions.  In  showing  them  he  proposed  to  introduce 
his  newly -found  carpenter  to  me  as  a  much  more 
economical  manufacturer  than  my  own,  able  to  make  me 
a  sadly- needed  table.  He  offered  his  own  excellent 
design  for  one,  which,  with  a  few  substantial  modifications, 
I  gratefully  accepted.  After  this  the  rage  for  designing 
furniture  was  taken  up  by  others  of  our  circle  until  the 
fashion  grew  to  importance. 

It  was  now  evident  that  progress  with  "  The  Finding 
in  the  Temple"  was  to  be  in  slow  steps,  for  with  my 
increased  responsibilities  I  had  to  busy  myself  with  any 
small  replica  work  that  dealers  were  waiting  to  take. 
One  welcome  boon  was  the  sale  of  the  copyright  of 
"  Claudio  and  Isabella  "  for  two  hundred  pounds,  which 
gave  me  breathing  space  for  a  short  time. 

The  bachelor  parties  organised  by  Henry  Vaux,  the 
Assyriologist,  were  of  value,  not  alone  for  their  entertain- 
ment, but  also  in  the  opportunity  they  afforded  to  meet 
so  many  of  the  men  who  were  marked  out  as  the  peaceful 
soldiers  of  the  coming  era,  and  who  in  one  way  or  the 
other  were  emulous  to  engage  in  the  campaign  of  the 
world,  to  bring  in  fuller  knowledge,  wisdom,  and  refine- 
ment. We  were  all  self-appointed,  with  little  care  how 
long  deferred  official  recognition  might  be,  or  if  it  came 


v         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      137 

at  all  ;  but  we  each  had  an  earnest  desire  to  be  accepted 
by  one  another,  and  to  decide  who  were  the  competitors 
bearing  the  credentials  of  mutual  recognition.  Music 
intoxicated  us  above  selfish  considerations.  As  the  celestial 
rhythms  of  Purcell,  Handel,  Bach,  Beethoven,  and  Chopin 
floated  through  the  room,  the  notes  breathed  inspiration 
to  pursuers  of  the  higher  ideals. 


SIDEBOARD    AND    CHAIRS. 


A  life  school  had  been  started  at  Kensington,  to  meet 
three  evenings  a  week  ;  the  early  list  of  members  included 
Barlow,  Augustus  Egg,  Frith,  Leighton,  Val  Prinsep,  John 
Phillip,  to  which  the  septuagenarian  student,  Mulready, 
was  eventually  added.  Often  at  the  beginning  and  end 
of  each  evening  there  was  a  good  deal  of  "  banter  "  between 
a  member  of  the  Academy  who  openly  ridiculed  the  aims 
ot  our  reform  and  myself  ;  one  evening  he  reminded  me 
that  the  Council  of  the  Academy  had  met  the  previous 


138         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

night  to  elect  the  new  associates,  and  my  playful  railer 
undertook  to  supply  news  of  the  result.  He  spoke  across 
the  room  thus,  "  I  was  very  nigh  last  night  doing  you  an 
injustice  ;  in  the  list  of  candidates  was  the  name  of  one 
Hunt,1  and  the  question  was  started  whether  you  were 
the  painter  named.  I  declared  that  I  was  sure  it  could 
not  be  so,  as  you  had  told  me  you  regarded  the  elections 
as  actuated  by  great  prejudice  and  narrowness  of  spirit, 
and  that  you  had  instanced  some  artists  who  ought  to 
have  been  elected,  mentioning  specially  Ford  Madox 
Brown,  and  that  when  I  had  asked  whether  you  intended 
to  compete  you  stated  distinctly  that  you  would  not  stand 
while  he  was  left  outside  ;  after  I  had  said  this  the  voting 
proceeded  and  the  choice  fell  upon  others.  The  ballot 
was  announced,  and  when  all  was  supposed  to  be  settled, 
Mr.  Knight  got  up  saying  he  had  just  learned  that  the 
voting  had  taken  place  with  the  understanding  that  the 
name  of  Hunt  was  not  that  of  the  Pre-Raphaelite,  and 
that  this  was  a  mistake,  because  you  had  yourself  left 
your  name  with  him  ;  on  this  it  was  decided  the  votes 
should  be  re-taken  ;  it  was  done,  but  as  you  only  gained 
one  vote  the  result  was  all  the  same." 

"It  was  four  or  five  years  ago,"  I  replied,  "when  I 
spoke  to  you  of  Brown's  claim,  he  then  exhibited  fre- 
quently at  the  Academy,  he  had  been  known  since  1844 
as  an  important  artist;  since  1852,  when  his  picture  of 
'  Christ  washing  Peter's  Feet '  was  hung  up  near  the 
ceiling,  he  has  only  appeared  once  at  the  Academy  with  a 
picture  called  '  Waiting,'  three  pictures  that  he  sent  in 
1854  were  rejected,  and  he  has  determined  never  to  send 
again,  or  to  desire  the  honours  of  the  Academy.  I  have 
gone  on  steadilv  sending  there,  so  the  case  in  relation  to 

J  O 

Brown  and  myself  is  changed  ;  however,  the  decision  is  in 
accord  with  the  policy  of  the  schemers  in  the  Institution, 
who  elected  Millais  to  break  up  our  combination.  They 
would  now  keep  me  paying  court  to  the  Academy  until  I 

1   The   admirable   landscape   painter,    Alfred    Hunt,   uas   then   only  a   new 
exhibitor. 


v         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      139 

had  been  induced  to  give  up  all  originality.  I  am  not 
made  of  such  stuff,  I  shall  not  stand  for  election  any  more, 
unless  the  Academy  be  fundamentally  reformed,  ceasing  to 
be  introelective,  with  membership  for  life.  Instead  of  this 
there  should  be  proportionate  control  by  the  general  pro- 
fession, and  a  quinquennial  curtailment  of  membership. 
Only  with  such  differences  could  safety  be  obtained  from 
the  manoeuvres  of  those  members  who  know  that  their 
fortunes  would  be  doomed  by  the  admission  of  artists 
with  original  ideas.  I  do  not  underrate  the  Academy's 
power  against  outsiders,  but  at  this  time  it  is  not  quite 
what  it  used  to  be.  With  men  like  Linnell,  Watts, 
Brown,  Rossetti,  and  Leighton  outside,  I  hope  we  shall  be 
able  to  stand.  I  am  grateful  to  the  Academy  for  the 
benefits  I  received  from  it  as  a  student,  and  I  have  great 
admiration  for  several  of  your  members,  but  their  little  word 
has  but  weight  against  the  intriguers  within  its  walls,  who 
pervert  the  honourable  objects  of  the  Institution.  An 
Academy  to  justify  its  existence  should  lead  public  taste, 
not  follow  it." 

My  assailant  here  said,  that  he  knew  many  who  on 
being  disappointed  had  declared  that  they  would  never 
again  be  candidates,  but  on  the  next  opportunity  had 
stood  for  election. 

The  result  of  my  experiment  as  a  candidate  only 
made  me  more  resolved  patiently  to  go  my  own  way,  and 
trust  for  some  good  to  come  in  the  future,  far  or  near, 
from  my  independence.  What  it  might  be  I  could  not 
tell,  but  I  still  intended  to  follow  the  example  of  those 
outsiders  who  still  exhibited  at  the  Academy. 

WTere  I  to  be  silent  about  my  rejection  by  the  Academy 
it  might  be  thought  that  I  was  anxious  to  have  the  world 
forget.  In  publishing  it  I  disavow  all  sort  of  resentment 
against  the  body  for  their  treatment  of  me.  I  had  dared  to 

"" 

think  for  myself  and  to  make  no  promise  of  amendment  ; 
in  punishing  me  they  acted  according  to  their  light.  Un- 
doubtedly it  made  a  great  increase  of  trouble  in  the 
struggle  to  overcome  the  prejudice  of  patrons,  but  I  had 


1 40         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

the  consolation  through  all  of  feeling  that  the  value  of 
the  recognition  which  my  works  did  or  might  gain  from 
the  public  without  the  Academy's  fashionable  cachet  was 
more  likely  to  last  and  to  increase  in  future  days  than  it 
might  do,  did  it  come  with  encouragement  from  the  powers 
in  authority.  I  must  run  the  risk  of  egoism  in  saying  that 
I  thought  my  claim  a  strong  one.  If  I  am  wrong,  later 
generations  will  justly  silence  my  pretensions  with  forget- 
fulness.  The  unerring  future  not  seldom  reverses  the 
verdict  of  the  once-reigning  world. 

My  application  of  1856  was  made  after  I  had  exhibited 
annually,  with  two  exceptions,  since  1845 — tnat  *s  nme 
times,  and  in  some  of  these  years  I  had  contributed  three 
and  four  pictures,  most  of  which  had  attracted  as  much 
attention  as  any  works  exhibited.  I  had  patiently  taken 
severe  treatment  so  Jong,  that  the  rancour  the  Academy 
had  indulged  in  early  days  might  well  have  died  out. 
It  was  not  the  majority  of  its  members  who  entertained 
bitter  hostility  ;  it  was  the  crafty  activity  of  about  a  dozen 
men,  whose  names  would  not  now  be  recognised  as  those 
of  artists  at  all,  who  directed  it.  Privately  I  was  on 
friendly  terms  with  many  members.  It  was  then  necessary 
for  candidates  to  offer  their  names  annually.  I  continued 
to  exhibit  at  the  Academy  for  many  years  pictures  not 
secured  by  dealers  for  special  exhibition,  and  I  did  so  until 
I  found  that  the  unwritten  law  was,  "  Love  me  all  in  all  or 
not  at  all." 

Plants  which  grow  afield  are  scourged  with  frost  and 
bleak  winds  and  do  not  early  captivate  the  eye,  but  when 
acclimatised,  they  blossom  and  bear  full  flavoured  fruit, 
while  the  exotic  plant  is  cold-stricken  and  dies,  if  the 
temperature  of  the  conservatory  is  lost.  Yet,  as  the  art 
world  was  constituted,  with  all  its  prejudices,  there  could 
be  no  blinding  one's  eyes  to  the  increasing  difficulties  of 
my  present  position.  A  new  associate  of  the  Academy 
immediately  received  an  accession  of  demand  for  his 
works,  and  had  I  been  distinguished  by  the  badge  of 
Academy  favour,  I  could  have  counted  upon  the  prejudice 


v         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      141 

against  my  work  by  rich  collectors  being  turned  into 
approval  and  patronage.  My  position  now  was  like 
that  of  a  huntsman  pursued  by  wolves,  having  to  throw 
away  his  belongings  one  by  one  to  enable  him  to  keep 
ahead  of  destruction. 


CHAPTER   VI 

1856-57-58 

Write  me  as  one  who  loved  his  fellow  men. — LEIGH   HUNT. 

BROWN'S  suggestion,  before  I  moved  from  Pimlico, 
that  we  should  found  a  colony  of  artists  where  all  our  Body 
should  reside  and  have  a  common  room  and  a  general 
dining-room,  never  got  beyond  the  initial  stage  of  good 
intention.  It  was  a  scheme  which  I  think  only  Brown 
entertained  seriously.  He  was  fully  persuaded  of  its 
practicability  and  of  the  advantages  to  be  gained  by  it, 
declaring  that  the  distance  from  London  which  would  be 
an  evil  to  one  man  alone  would  be  no  disadvantage  to  a 
company  of  painters.  Brown  argued  that  the  colony 
would  quickly  acquire  such  a  reputation  in  the  world  that 
all  people  in  society  would  compete  to  procure  invitations 
to  its  dinners  and  fete  days.  I  asked  with  levity  whether 
the  lady  members  might  not  exercise  themselves  in  getting 
up  quarrels.  He,  after  indulging  himself  in  a  good- 
natured  laugh,  admitted  that  with  ordinary  women  such 
would  undoubtedly  be  the  case,  but  that  our  sisters  and 
wives  would  be  so  truly  superior  in  comparison  with  others 
that  no  such  calamity  need  be  feared  ;  but  that,  on  the 
contrary,  they  would  set  so  high  an  example  of  gentleness 
as  could  not  fail  to  spread  abroad.  Having  had  to  dis- 
courage Brown  in  his  Utopian  plan,  I  felt  obliged  to  agree 
to  become  a  member  of  the  Hogarth  Club.  We  fixed 

142 


CH.VI  PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     143 

upon  this  name  to  do  homage  to  the  stalwart  founder  of 
Modern  English  art. 

Probably  it  was  to  check  a  tendency  to  disruption  in 
our  ranks  that  this  Club  was  founded.  The  idea  was  to 
have  a  meeting-place  for  artists  and  amateurs  in  sympathy 
with  us,  and  to  use  the  walls  for  exhibiting  our  sketches 
and  pictures  to  members  and  friendly  visitors.  It  was 
further  claimed  by  its  founders  that  the  Club  would 
promote  harmony  among  the  younger  members  of  the 
profession  at  large  ;  but  the  most  that  I  expected  of  it 
was  that  it  would  show  the  degree  of  combination  that 
was  possible  among  the  non-members  of  the  Academy, 
and  this,  when  established,  it  did  very  negatively. 

When  the  first  collection  was  brought  together, 
Gabriel  sent  two  excellent  examples  of  his  last  oil  work. 
He  had  now  completely  changed  his  philosophy,  which 
he  showed  in  his  art,  leaving  Stoicism  for  Epicureanism, 
and  after  a  pause,  which  was  devoted  to  design  in  water- 
colour,  had  again  taken  to  oil-painting.  He  executed 
heads  of  women  of  voluptuous  nature  with  such  richness 
of  ornamental  trapping  and  decoration  that  they  were  a 
surprise,  coming  from  the  hand  which  had  hitherto  in- 
dulged itself  in  austerities.  Mr.  Combe,  at  my  instigation, 
possessed  himself  of  one  of  his  water-colours,  "Dante 
drawing  the  Angel."  Sir  Walter  Trevelyan,  Ruskin,  and 
Colonel  Gillum  also  bought  many  of  his  early  designs,  and 
to  the  kindness  of  the  latter  I  am  indebted  for  permission 
to  reproduce  some  examples  ;  but  at  the  time  spoken  of, 
when  the  Hogarth  Club  came  to  life,  his  whole  spirit  as 
to  his  early  friendships  was  changing.  The  Committee 
applied  to  me  to  use  my  interest  with  the  possessor  of 
"  The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona  "  to  contribute  it.  To 
prove  myself  a  good  clubman  I  took  pains  to  persuade 
Mr.  Fairbairn  to  lend  the  picture  ;  but  on  seeing  it  on 
the  walls,  Rossetti  immediately  had  his  works  removed. 
The  Club  was  conducted  from  the  beginning  in  this 
envious  spirit.  Brown,  on  one  occasion,  not  being  satisfied 
with  his  treatment,  arrived  at  breakfast-time,  took  down 


i44         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

all  his  contributions,  and  drove  off  with  them  in  a  cab. 
In  balloting  for  new  members  the  decisions  were  directed 
by  prejudice— not  against  the  candidate,  but  his  nominator 
and  supporters.  Notwithstanding  this  dissension,  the 
little  exhibition  was  a  very  notable  one.  Burne-Jones 
there — for  perhaps  the  first  time  in  public — displayed  his 
wonderful  faculty  of  accomplished  design  in  drawing  and 
colour,  and  astonished  all  by  his  extraordinary  advance 
since  he  had  been  in  Gabriel's  hands.  Leighton  here 
exhibited  a  pathetic  and  exquisite  outline  of  a  simple  group 
composed  of  a  deformed  likeness  of  the  Godhead  mourn- 
fully looking  up,  as  he  passes  by,  at  the  statue  of  a  beauti- 
ful Antinous,  and  oh,  the  pity  of  it  ! 

Leighton  had  been  placed  originally,  as  he  told  me, 
under  a  German  painter,  whose  portrait  is  in  the  LJffizzi. 
He  considered  that  this  pupilage  had  been  a  serious  mis- 
fortune to  him,  which  he  had  made  great  effort  to 
counteract  in  his  subsequent  practice.  What  was  the 
source  of  his  later  style  was  not  explained.  His  first 
exhibited  painting  was  distinctly  continental,  but  it  re- 
flected the  best  type  of  the  fashion  abroad  ;  and  it  would 
be  difficult  to  point  to  his  definite  teacher,  though,  when 
Carbanel's  works  were  seen,  it  was  impossible  not  to  feel 
that  the  same  influence  had  affected  both.  The  work  of 
both  may  be  classed  as  of  courtly  classical  character. 
The  party  in  the  Academy  which  had  been  most  hostile 
to  our  movement  at  first  greeted  his  work  with  loud 
acclamation  of  praise,  but  noting  that  the  continuance  of 
this  generosity  would  involve  them  in  danger  of  another 
innovation  on  their  humdrum  domains,  they  bestirred 
themselves  to  oppose  him  also,  and  when  these  circum- 
venting members  were  in  power  they  treated  Leighton 's 
contributions  in  a  manner  that  would  prevent  them  from 
attracting  attention.  His  pictures  for  a  few  years  were 
unequal,  and  occasionally  he  fell  below  the  level  of  his 
first  work.  Yet  while  feeling  for  new  possibilities  he 
never  lost  his  way.  His  power  might  be  compared  to 
that  of  an  elegant  yacht  of  dainty  and  finished  capacity 


Jfc 


vi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      145 

for  pleasure  service,  without  pretensions  to  serve  as  a 
transport  carrying  men  bent  on  tragic  purpose,  but  one 
to  sail  among  summer  islands  and  bring  back  dainty 
cargoes  of  beautiful  flowers  and  fruits.  He  may  eventu- 
ally win  even  greater  recognition  for  some  of  his  best 
work  than  he  has  yet  gained.  He  deserves  com- 
parison with  the  accomplished  of  any  age,  perhaps  even 
more  for  his  sculpture  than  for  his  painting.  In  his  early 
days  he  had  the  advantage,  seized  most  wisely,  of  his 
father's  support,  in  the  final  years  of  his  life  it  could 
not  but  be  regretted  that  the  weight  of  official  duties 
interfered  with  the  full  exercise  of  his  genius.  Loyalty 
to  innate  classicalism  was  his  religion,  and  in  the  end  of  the 
fifties  it  was  still  difficult  to  decide  how  far  he  would 
develop.  Once,  when  I  went  round  to  him  at  Orme 
Square,  where  he  had  six  paintings  ready  for  Exhibition, 
after  I  had  made  my  sincere  congratulations  and  was  hurry- 
ing away  to  my  own  work,  he  caught  me  at  the  door 
saying,  "Now  I  want  you  to  return  and  tell  me  which 
of  my  set  you  most  approve."  I  pointed  out  three  or 
four  that  were  distinctly  decorative.  "  And  have  you 
no  words  to  say  for  these  others? "  he  asked.  "Very  many, 
of  envious  admiration  for  the  charming  ability  with  which 
they  are  done,"  I  replied.  "  Now,"  he  returned  with  uncon- 
cealed pain,  "  I  call  this  mortifying.  You  pick  out  for  praise 
those  which  have  cost  me  no  serious  effort  whatever,  and 
those  which  I  have  really  expended  my  deepest  feelings 
upon,  you  only  praise  as  being  done  with  facility."  I 
declared  with  warmth  that  I  perhaps  was  wrong,  but  that  I 
was  sure  he  would  find  many  fully  as  appreciative  of  the 
one  set  of  pictures  as  I  was  of  the  other. 

Every  season  his  treatment  at  the  hands  of  the 
Academy  became  more  severe,  and  this  continued  till,  in 
1863,  when  giving  evidence  before  the  Royal  Commission 
as  to  the  condition  of  the  Academy,1  I  instanced  the  way 
in  which  his  paintings  in  the  last  Exhibition  were  dis- 
advantageously  hung,  as  convincing  illustration  of  the 

1   See  Blue  Book,  1863. 
VOL.    II  L 


146         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

manner  in  which  certain  artists  were  pursued  with  in- 
injurious  prejudice.  Soon  after  this,  he  began  to  surmount 
Academic  displeasure,  and  was  elected  a  member  of  the 
Body.  But  in  anticipating  the  story  of  Leighton's  first 
decade,  we  have  gone  some  years  beyond  the  last  days 
of  the  Hogarth  Club. 

A  year  or  two  before  this,  meeting  me  one  day, 
Leighton  spoke  excitedly,  saying  that  on  finding  out,  as 
he  did  at  some  meeting  at  which  I  was  absent,  that  the 
real  object  of  the  Hogarth  Club  was  to  attack  and  upset 
the  Academy,  he  had  at  once  sent  in  his  resignation.  He 
concluded  by  saying,  "  I  would  not  believe  this  was  your 
intention  until  one  of  the  members  asserted  it  in  so  many 
words.  I  will  have  nothing  to  do  with  any  such  pro- 
gramme, and  utterly  disapprove  of  it." 

I  told  him  that  he  never  heard  me  say  anything  of 
the  sort.  I  wanted  no  one  to  shape  his  course  by  mine, 
that  I  would  go  the  way  that  seemed  to  me  right  and 
proper  for  myself,  innocent  of  plots.  "  As  to  the  Club,"  I 
said,  "my  connection  with  it  is  eminently  passive." 

When  the  Hogarth  broke  up,  Brown  came  and  rated 
me  severely  for  being  the  cause  of  its  ruin.  "  In  what 
way  ?  "  I  asked,  "  I've  tried  to  avoid  all  the  quarrels  ;  and 
in  fact  the  little  I  did  in  exhibiting  and  attending  was 
really  only  in  compliance  with  your  expressed  desire." 

"  That  is  exactly  what  I  complain  of.  You  made  it 
too  evident  you  had  no  interest  in  the  Club,"  he  said. 

The  next  Academy  season  came  round,  and  I  had  no 
contribution  ready  ;  so  precious  life  sped,  making  my 
dream  of  returning  to  the  East  an  ever-increasing  mockery 
to  me. 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Combe  now  agreed  that  I  had  been 
right  in  my  judgment  of  the  course  that  I  should  take 
towards  the  Academy,  and  they  then  told  me  what  had 
induced  them  the  more  to  wish  me  to  court  the  protection 
of  the  powerful  Institution.  Mrs.  Combe  in  the  previous 
year  had  been  in  London  on  the  artists'  show  day,  and 
Mrs.  Collins,  the  widow  of  the  Academician,  undertook 


vi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      147 

to  take  her  to  the  leading  studios  :  as  they  entered  the 
room  of  one  of  the  favourite  members,  crowded  with 
amateurs  and  picture  buyers,  the  artist  received  the  lady 
he  knew  with,  "Ah,  Mrs.  Collins,  now  you  are  the  very 
person  to  tell  us  whether  it  is  true  that  Holman  Hunt 
has  found  some  fool  to  give  him  400  guineas  for  that 
absurd  picture  which  he  calls  '  The  Light  of  the 
World  '  ?  " 

"  It  is  quite  true,"  was  the  reply  of  the  lady,  who  had 
a  spirit  of  humour  now  not  unmixed  with  asperity.     "  And 


THE    WIFE  S    DEATH. 


you  will  perhaps  permit  me  to  introduce  you  to  the  wife 
of  'the  fool,'  who  will  confirm  the  statement." 

As  a  further  illustration  of  the  spirit  of  the  art  world 
of  that  day,  the  following  story  will  serve. 

A  picture  dealer  with  a  large  business  was  entertaining 
a  bachelor  party,  and  a  posse  of  painters  in  one  corner 
were  inveighing  against  the  errors  of  Pre-Raphaelitism, 
when  one  of  the  company,  the  more  remarkable  that  he 
was  a  member  of  the  Academy,  took  up  our  cause, 
and  declared  that  he  approved  our  greater  exactness  in 
the  rendering  of  outdoor  nature,  and  that  so  far  was 
he  converted  by  our  example  that  he  intended  in  the 
picture  that  now  occupied  him  to  paint  the  vegetation 


148         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

out  of  doors  direct  from  nature.  The  room  was  evidently 
an  effective  whispering  gallery,  it  carried  the  words  to 
the  opposite  side,  and  almost  as  quickly  the  host  strode 

across,    saying,    "  Well,    Mr.   P ,   you  were    painting 

your  present  picture  for  me  ;  after  what  I've  heard  I 
decline  it." 

Nevertheless,  established  artists  who  had  been  adverse 
were  converted  to  the  principles  which  we  had  advocated 
and  practised ;  more  than  one  of  the  best  men  had  painted 
with  truth  from  nature,  with  acknowledgments  to  us, 
and  there  were  but  few  members  who  had  not  attempted 
to  mend  their  ways  in  respect  to  thoroughness,  and  franker 
attention  to  the  great  masters. 

Too  often  I  had  to  be  reconciled  to  the  sight  of  my 
"Temple"  picture  turned  to  the  wall  while  I  was  giving 
my  time  to  work  which  would  pay  next  quarter's  bills, 
for  when  the  insult  of  my  non  -  election  was  bruited 
abroad,  the  verdict  of  adverse  critics  became  more  un- 
qualified. I  had  no  choice,  therefore,  but  to  persevere 
with  replicas  and  with  illustrations  for  poorly-paid  current 
periodicals  and  books. 

It  will  be  seen  that  the  election  of  Millais  had  not 
brought  him  a  full  measure  of  justice,  but  it  had  the 
advantage  of  persuading  picture-buyers  to  believe  that  the 
judgment  which  had  condemned  him  at  first  was  now 
appeased  by  some  imaginary  submission  to  the  arch  autho- 
rity of  the  recognised  institution  on  matters  of  art,  and 
the  early  hesitation  in  purchasing  his  original  works  was 
greatly  put  aside.  I  had  still  to  suffer  the  disadvantage  ot 
my  more  than  two  years'  absence  from  England,  and 
change  of  subject  still  hampered  me. 

When  Henry  Vaux's  gatherings  came  to  an  end, 
Arthur  Lewis  started  more  sumptuous  smoking  evenings 
at  his  chambers  in  Jermyn  Street.  At  the  beginning  of 
the  sixties  he  took  possession  of  Moray  Lodge  on  Campden 
Hill,  a  house  with  spacious  gardens  and  lawn  in  the  Jane 
leading  to  Holland  Park  ;  on  the  left-hand  side  of  this 
lane  stood  the  house  which  had  belonged  to  the  Marquis  of 


vi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      149 

Bute,  and  which  was  now  tenanted  by  the  amateur  painter, 
Sir  John,  and  Lady  Constance  Leslie.  The  second  house 
belonged  to  Lord  Airlie,  the  third  to  Lord  Macaulay,  and 
the  last  was  that  of  the  Duke  of  Argyll.  The  gates 
leading  to  these  had  posts  surmounted  by  lamps,  which 
at  night  spread  a  stately  but  sombre  light  over  the  road. 
The  lane  narrowed,  and  was  barred  to  all  but  pedestrians 
beyond  this  point.  In  summer,  when  garden  parties 
were  given,  and  on  "  Moray  Minstrel  "  nights,  it  was  a 
merry  crew  that  greeted  one  another  as  they  drove  up  to 
the  Lewis  domain.  The  host  always  welcomed  his  guests 
with  cheery  greetings.  He  was  a  widely  accomplished 
man  and  an  ardent  lover  of  music.  In  his  boyhood 
he  had  desired  to  be  a  painter,  but  his  father,  at  a 
turning-point  in  his  life,  explained  to  him  the  lucrative 
nature  of  the  silk-mercer  business  he  would  be  rejecting, 
and  this  decided  him  to  forego  his  artistic  enthusiasm  ; 
but  he  indulged  his  taste  as  an  amateur,  and  in  time 
became  able  to  produce  excellent  etchings  and  studies 
from  nature.  He  sat  the  saddle  like  a  master,  and 
his  accomplished  driving  of  his  four-in-hand  made 
many  passers-by  pause'  and  turn.  He  was  a  cordial  host, 
but  however  late  his  hospitality  kept  him  at  night,  he 
was  always  seen  arriving  from  Campden  Hill  by  8.30  at 
his  place  of  business.  At  Moray  Lodge  his  taste  was 
proved  to  be  of  good  character  by  a  fine  group  in  bronze 
of  "The  Wrestling  Duellists,"  executed  by  a  Swedish 
sculptor,  which  Lewis  had  selected  from  a  great  Exhibition, 
and  also  by  some  paintings,  prominent  among  which  were 
Arthur  Hughes'  poetic  picture  entitled  "  April  Love,"  the 
first  picture  seen  here  by  Joseph  Israel  of  a  drowned 
fisherman  carried  from  the  boat  over  the  beach  by  his 
companions,  and  a  small  picture  by  Millais  of  a  High- 
lander reading  his  letter  from  home  in  the  trenches. 

One  signal,  even  national,  service  which  Lewis 
rendered  was  the  counsel  he  gave  to  a  widow  who  appealed 
to  him  to  exercise  his  power  to  introduce  her  son  to 
some  business  career,  the  more  desired  because  of  his 


150         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

great  love  of  drawing,  and  the  consequent  danger 
that  he  might  become  an  artist.  Lewis,  on  seeing 
the  designs  of  this  boy,  proved  to  her  that  it  would  be 
unjustifiable  to  prevent  him  following  his  bent.  This  was 
the  beginning  of  the  artistic  career  of  Fred  Walker,  one 
of  the  most  poetic  painters  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
His  life,  by  Marks,  is  an  excellent  memoir,  but  the 


ARTHUR   j.    LEWIS        „,, 

AT       HOME 

MORAY    LODGE.     CAMPDEN   HILl 

KENSINGTON.        >',   ' 


FREDERICK    WALKER  S    DESIGN. 


man  was  so  important  that  any  additional  reminiscences 
from  the  observations  or  records  of  friends  are  of 
interest.  He  was  a  small  and  fragile  man,  not  more 
than  five  feet  four,  and  truly  delicate  in  the  double  sense  of 
the  word.  His  face  was  beautifully  modelled,  of  a  classical 
build,  not  apparent  to  the  casual  observer,  owing  to  an 
occasional  marring  of  his  complexion,  resulting  probably 
from  incessant  smoking  and  late  hours.  Observing  the 
feebleness  of  his  frame,  one  naturally  desired  to  remonstrate 
with  him  about  the  overtaxing  of  his  fretful  constitution 


vi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      151 

by  feverish  habits.  Once  or  twice  when  I  met  him  in 
the  street  in  the  small  hours  of  darkness,  he  seemed  to 
suspect  possible  admonitions,  and  hurried  by  as  though 
to  evade  them.  He  was  constant  as  a  guest  at  Lewis' 
parties,  and  was  ever  conspicuous  in  a  knot  composed  of 
Calderon,  Storey,  Wallis,  Du  Maurier,  and  Stacey  Marks  ; 
the  two  latter  often  delivered  humorous  recitals.  Burne- 
Jones,  who  was  then  steadily  growing  in  reputation  in 
private  circles  and  at  the  old  Water  Colour  Society,  was 


FREDERICK    WALKERS    DESIGN    FOR    INVITATION    CARD. 

an  occasional  visitor ;  and  later  the  youthful  W.  B. 
Richmond.  It  was  a  strange  mixture  of  company 
that  might  be  found  at  these  meetings  in  Lewis'  house, 
for  the  entertainments  became  famous,  and  men  of  all 
classes  were  pleased  to  go  into  Bohemia  for  the  night. 
There  might  be  seen  Thackeray,  Anthony  Trollope,  Lord 
Houghton,  Edmund  Yates,  Millais,  Leighton,  Arthur 
Sullivan,  Canon  Harford,  John  Leech,  Dicky  Doyle,  Tom 
Taylor,  Jopling,  the  first  winner  of  the  Wimbledon  prize, 
the  Severns,  Mike  Halliday,  Sandys,  Val  Prinsep,  Poole 
the  tailor,  who  helped  to  found  the  renewed  French 


152         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Empire,  by  lending  ^£  10,000  to  Louis  Napoleon,  and 
Tattersall  the  horse-dealer. 

On  Sunday  afternoons  I  not  infrequently  went  to 
Sydenham  to  visit  my  friends,  Mr.  and  Mrs.  George 
Grove  and  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Henry  Phillips,  and  we  would 
pass  the  afternoon  lounging  in  the  courts  and  grounds  of 
the  Crystal  Palace,  with  which  Fergusson  and  Grove  had 
been  connected  from  the  beginning,  and  had  helped  to 
make  it  the  wonder  it  was  when  newly  established.  At 
my  hosts'  table  many  friends  met  who  adjourned  by  a  ten 
o'clock  train  to  the  Cosmopolitan  Club  in  Berkeley  Square, 
where  free  and  friendly  converse  often  continued  till 
morning's  small  hours. 

Although  I  refused  myself  autumn  holidays  or  visit 
to  the  country  not  necessary  for  painting  accessories  in 
small  pictures,  the  "Finding  in  the  Temple"  remained 
sometimes  for  months  without  a  single  day's  work  added 
to  it.  Season  after  season  thus  went  by,  while  others  were 
steadily  adding  to  their  fame.  Millais  appeared  in  town 
with  three  pictures,  the  most  important  of  which  was  the 
"  Knight  crossing  the  Ford"  ;  this  was  notable  for  poetic 
conception  and  realisation  direct  from  Nature  herself. 
That  portion  of  the  world  of  men  who  never  recognise 
poetry  unless  it  presents  itself  with  a  strong  likeness  to 
something  already  sanctified  by  usage  were  slow  to  see  in 
this  picture  how  sterling  a  poet  the  painter  was.  I  was 
sure,  however,  that  one  oversight  in  the  work  would  be  a 
stumbling-block  to  undiscriminating  appreciation.  When 
first  I  saw  the  picture  at  the  studio  it  struck  me  that  the 
horse  was  glaringly  too  large  ;  the  room  was  full  of 
visitors  and  I  did  not  argue  the  question  then,  but  in  the 
evening  I  would  not  give  up  my  candour,  and  I  assured 
Millais  that  the  exquisite  beauty  and  the  idea  of  the 
painting  would  be  seriously  marred  to  the  impatient  world 
if  the  work  were  exhibited  without  correction.  He  fought 
every  inch  of  the  ground,  not  liking  that  the  exhibition 
of  the  work  should  be  postponed  for  the  proposed  altera- 
tion, and  the  success  promised  for  the  picture  delayed  till 


vi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      153 

next  year,  but  eventually  relented  so  far  that  he  promised  to 
go  down  and  see  the  Guards  exercising  the  next  morning, 
thus  to  check  the  relative  size  of  horse  and  rider,  and  if 
he  found  the  proportion  so  much  out  as  I  said,  he  would 
keep  the  picture  back.  The  next  evening  I  inquired  what 
he  had  decided.  "  Oh,"  said  he,  "  as  to  those  Guards, 
I  never  saw  anything  so  ridiculous  in  my  life,  and  with  a 
Society  pretending  to  exist  for  the  Prevention  of  Cruelty 
to  Animals  !  Every  soldier  ought  to  be  prosecuted,  for 
all  had  their  feet  nearly  reaching  the  ground  like  old- 
fashioned  dandy-horse  riders  ;  they  ought  to  be  compelled 
to  get  off  and  walk,  and  not  torment  the  poor  little 
creatures  they  bestride.  No — I  will  tell  you  I  have 
been  talking  to  Tom  Taylor  about  it,  and  he  has  written 
a  verse  in  imitation  of  an  old  ballad.  The  size  of  the 
horse  will  now  be  a  merit." 

In  this  resolution  the  picture  was  exhibited  with  the 
following  verse  :— 

The  goode  hors  that  the  knyghte  bestrode, 
I  trow  his  backe  it  was  full  brode, 
And  wighte  and  warie  still  he  yode, 
Noght  reckinge  of  rivere  : 
He  was  so  mickle  and  so  stronge, 
And  thereto  so  wonderlich  longe 
In  londe  was  none  his  peer. 
N'as  hors  but  by  him  seemed  smalle, 
The  knyghte  him  cleped  Launcival  ; 
But  lords  at  borde  and  groomes  in  stalle, 
Cleped  him  Graund  Destrerc. 

On  its  appearance  a  storm  of  ridicule  arose,  and 
Ruskin  in  his  Academy  Notes  was  unboundedly  denuncia- 
tory. There  were  but  few  independent  enough  to 
disregard  the  voice  of  the  majority,  and  one  who  did  so 
was  Charles  Reade  the  novelist,  who  bought  the  picture 
at  the  end  of  the  Exhibition  for  .£400,  the  painter  for  his 
own  satisfaction  erasing  the  horse  and  painting  it  again  of 
smaller  proportions.  Late  in  that  season  a  caricature  of 
the  picture  appeared  in  print-sellers'  windows  with  some 
verses  underneath,  indicating  that  the  horse  was  Ruskin 


1 54  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  vi 

bearing  on  his  back  Millais  as  the  knight,  with  Rossetti 
and  myself  as  the  two  children  being  carried  over  the 
stream.  I  saw  a  crowd  in  Fleet  Street  trying  to  settle 
that  Sir  Robert  Peel  was  the  knight,  the  child  in  front 
Disraeli,  and  the  hindermost  Lord  John  Russell ;  but  as 
the  street  spectators  had  not  seen  the  original  picture,  they 
could  not  see  what  the  satire  was.  This  drawing  was 
done  by  Frederick  Sandys  on  a  new  system  of  etching 
which  soon  entailed  the  destruction  of  the  plate,  so  that 
the  impressions  are  now,  I  believe,  rare.  Another  print 
satirical  of  our  school  had  appeared  some  time  before,  in 
which  the  wicked  artists  were  represented  as  porcelain 
poodles,  but  the  point  was  so  difficult  to  make  out,  that 
the  public  gave  it  up,  and  so  did  the  print-sellers  ;  still 
these  pasquinades  all  tended  to  keep  up  the  rancour 
against  us. 

Ford  Madox  Brown,  acute  with  certain  angularities, 
as  he  presented  himself,  was  esteemed  most  by  those  who 
knew  him  best.  He  had  often  had  differences  with 
others,  which  sometimes  ended  in  quarrels,  but  he  was  one 
of  those  dear  and  highly  endowed  fellows  from  whom, 
early  in  intimacy,  it  was  easy  to  determine  never  to 
take  offence,  though  I  could  not  shut  my  eyes  to  his 
curious  crotchets.  About  this  date  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Combe, 
with  whom  I  had  spoken  warmly  of  him  as  one  they 
ought  to  know,  and  who,  I  felt  sure,  were  disposed 
to  appreciate  him,  came  to  town  quite  suddenly,  as  was 
their  wont,  and  asked  me  to  go  out  with  them  for  the 
day.  I  took  them  to  his  house,  and  was  sorry  to  find 
he  was  not  at  home.  As  I  was  speaking  with  the  servant, 
his  daughter  Lucy  came  to  us,  and  on  introducing  my 
friends,  I  said  I  had  been  anxious  to  show  her  father's 
works.  At  which  Miss  Madox  Brown  assured  me  we 
might  all  venture  upstairs,  and  that  she  would  show 
the  paintings.  The  principal  picture  was  "  Work." 
They  greatly  admired  its  execution,  but  it  was  not,  1 
knew,  of  a  kind  they  would  wish  to  possess.  The  other 
paintings  helped  to  increase  their  interest  in  the  painter  ; 


THE    LENT    JE\VELL    (ILL  USTRATINf;    DEAN    TRENCH\S    POEM). 


156         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

but     afterwards     I    received     the     following    letter    from 
Brown  : — 


And  as  I  have  never  derived  anything  but  disgust  (except  in 
the  case  of  personal  friends)  from  artistic  meetings,  I  mean  to  keep 
at  home  and  never  talk  of  art  or  show  my  pictures  except  to  those 
who  I  know  come  to  buy.  I  am  obliged  to  tell  you  this,  because 
I  have  now  made  a  strict  rule, in  the  house,  that  no  one  is  ever 
allowed  in  my  studio  while  I  am  out — which,  were  it  not 
explained  to  you  as  part  of  a  general  plan,  might  on  some  future 
occasion  take  you  by  surprise  or  appear  unfriendly. 

The  soreness  that  he  thus  revealed  was  a  great  bar  to 
the  possibility  of  making  my  friends  of  service  to  him. 
We  have  already  seen  to  what  lengths  of  generosity  in 
the  recognition  of  a  competitor's  merits  Brown  could  go  ; 
it  is  not  unfair  now  to  his  dear  memory  to  show  how, 
under  stress  of  continued  rebuff,  he  could  allow  himself  to 
express  mistrust  and  suspicion  at  acts  which  could  only 
have  been  directed  by  kindness  on  the  part  of  his  friend. 
I  had  proposed  that  he  should  allow  me  to  offer  him 
as  a  candidate  for  the  Cosmopolitan  Club,  but  this  also 
failed.  The  following  story  serves  as  an  example  how 
the  gentlest  and  kindest  of  men  can  be  soured  by 
continued  ill-treatment,  neglect,  and  misunderstanding. 
One  evening  I  met  him  at  Patmore's,  and  in  walking  home 
from  Finchley,  I  made  inquiries  about  the  progress  of  his 
protracted  picture  "  Work."  He  thereupon  told  me  that 
he  was  wanting  the  two  intellectual  workers  contemplating 
their  brothers  labouring  with  bodily  strength  to  be  Rev. 
F.  D.  Maurice  and  Thomas  Carlyle,  but  that  he  found 
the  latter  difficult  to  obtain  as  a  sitter.  Whereupon  1 
said  that  perhaps  I  might  help  him,  because  Carlyle  had 
promised  that  he  would  give  me  the  opportunity  to  paint 
his  portrait,  and  the  sittings  were  to  be  given  when  first  I 
was  free,  and  that  under  this  obliging  bond  I  might  ask 
the  Philosopher  to  sit  to  Brown  in  the  interim.  A  few 
days  afterwards  I  received  the  following  letter  :— 


vi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      157 

M.iy  i,  1859. 

MY  DEAR  HUNT  —  The  evening  at  Patmore's  when  you 
mentioned  the  fact  of  your  having  obtained  a  promise  from 
Carlyle  not  to  sit  for  his  portrait  to  any  one  else  than  you,  and 
at  the  same  time  offered  to  speak  to  him  on  my  behalf,  I  was 
taken  so  completely  by  surprise  that  I  made  an  immediate  resolve 
not  to  say  a  word  on  the  subject  till  I  had  time  to  revolve  the 
matter  in  my  mind  and  make  sure  of  the  circumstances.  I  must 
now  beg  as  a  favour  that  you  will  not  mention  my  name  on  the 
subject  to  him.  I  should  have  doubts  of  the  success  of  your 
mediation  ;  and  indeed,  from  the  step  you  have  taken,  you  must 
be  aware  that  the  chances  of  my  ever  getting  him  to  sit  for  the 
portrait  of  him  in  my  large  picture  are  now  smaller  than  ever  (if 
only  from  the  mere  disgust  of  being  so  frequently  requested  as  a 
subject  for  an  art  he  despises),  and  such  as  they  are  can  only  be 
bettered  by  their  being  worked  against  yours  and  not  possibly  in 
unison  with.  Remains,  of  course,  to  you  the  right  of  pushing 
your  interests  in  the  matter  how  and  when  vou  like.  However, 
I  must  pay  you  the  compliment  to  tell  you  frankly  (and  only  in 
the  case  of  such  an  old  friend  as  you  could  I  take  direct  notice  of 
such  a  thing),  that  your  practice  has  been  a  leetle  too  sharp  in  this 
case  considering  the  stake  I  had  in  the  matter. — Believe  me  ever, 
yours  most  sincerely,  FORD  MADOX  BROWN. 

The  fact  of  Brown's  continuing  difficulty  was  that 
when  Carlyle  saw  the  preparatory  sketch  of  his  face  on 
the  canvas,  he  was  not  flattered,  and  had  no  desire  to  help 
the  artist  with  the  grimacing  distortion  of  his  features, 
which  gave  Brown  his  fond  opportunity  of  representing 
a  gap  in  the  upper  row  of  teeth,  a  defect  which  I  must 
say  I  never  detected  in  the  philosopher,  even  when 
haranguing  most  vehemently.  I  can  only  believe  that 
Brown  must  actually  for  the  time  have  persuaded  himself 
that,  instead  of  my  having  Carlyle's  promise  before  I  went 
to  the  East  two  or  more  years  ago,  I  had  gone  to  Carlyle 
after  he  had  revealed  his  wish  to  introduce  him  into  his 
picture. 

The  building  of  the  Oxford  Museum  was  progressing 
without  gaining  much  admiration  from  any  one.  Ruskin 
had  already  in  his  writings  upon  architecture  pointed  out 
in  unanswerable  manner  that  the  old  carvings  in  porches, 


158         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

on  cathedral  columns,  and  choir  stalls  had  been  executed 
by  the  Gothic  ornamentalists  from  their  own  invention, 
uncontrolled  by  the  architect.  It  was  determined,  in 
pursuance  of  this  idea,  to  employ  stone-masons  to  work 
independently  on  the  Museum.  Alas  !  it  had  not  been 
well  considered  that  the  ancient  carvers  were,  in  taste  and 
training,  contemporaneous  with  the  builders.  In  the 
nineteenth-century  Museum  at  Oxford  the  architect  had 
endeavoured  to  make  himself  a  fourteenth-century  man  ; 
the  carver  chosen  was  an  amusing  Irishman  named 
O'Shea,  an  unmitigated  nineteenth-century  stone-chiseller 
of  great  cleverness,  who  had  previously  perhaps  only 
carved  tombstones  to  suit  village  taste,  and  cornucopias 
of  flowers  for  summer  -  houses.  O'Shea  became  the 
admired  of  the  enthusiasts  who  watched  the  decorating 
of  the  spaces  destined  to  be  enriched,  yet  a  few  un- 
converted ones  would  not  be  charmed  with  the  work  in 
any  degree. 

When  I  went  to  Oxford  now  it  was  to  get  brief  repose 
by  painting  landscape  from  the  Godstow  meadows.  I 
had  but  few  collegiate  friends  remaining,  these  always 
moving  on,  but  I  generally  visited  my  valued  friend  Dr. 
Acland,  and  with  him  I  went  to  the  new  buildings,  which 
I  watched  with  the  greater  interest  as  Woolner  had 
accepted  a  commission  to  carve  a  figure  of  Lord  Bacon 
there  ;  Tupper  also  had  in  hand  one  of  Linnasus  ;  and 
Munro  had  a  third  (all  possibly  working  in  hope  of  future 
patronage,  for  the  pay  was  less  than  meagre).  Mr.  Wood- 
ward, the  architect,  could  not  be  very  energetic  in  his 
supervision  owing  to  weakness  from  an  advanced  stage 
of  consumption.  While  Ruskin  was  absent  Dr.  Acland 
was  left  as  supervisor  of  the  decorative  work.  One  morn- 
ing O'Shea  was  busily  engrossed  chipping  to  his  heart's 
content  at  an  ambitiously  composed  but  not  very  well 
prepared  design,  when  the  President  of  Trinity,  one  of  the 
unconverted  trustees  of  the  building,  which  in  his  eyes 
every  day  displayed  some  new  eccentricity,  paused  as  he 
passed  below.  "  What  are  you  doing  there  now,  sir  ?  "  he 


vi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      159 

demanded  in  a  loud,  querulous  voice.  "  Eh,  your  honour  ? 
in  faith  it's  some  cats."  "  How  dare  you  destroy  the 
University  property  in  such  shameful  manner  !  Come 
down  this  instant.  I  will  have  no  cats  there  ;  you  shall 
not  do  another  stroke  to  them.  Come  down,  sir."  Such 
a  tone  disconcerted  the  much-appreciated  mason  ;  but  now 
there  was  no  question  of  remonstrances  or  justification, 
and  soon  he  was  on  the  ground,  incredulously  contem- 
plating his  despised  chef-d 'ceuvre.  In  his  chagrin  he 
bethought  him  of  Dr.  Acland,  his  possible  defender,  and 
hurried  to  the  house  in  the  Corn  Market,  where  he  explained 
his  grievance.  The  young  doctor  was  thoroughly  perplexed ; 
this  he  avowed  after  careful  consideration,  and  dropped 
into  a  brown  study.  O'Shea,  driven  back  on  his  own 
resources,  suddenly  had  a  brilliant  inspiration  ;  he  jumped 
up,  exclaiming  as  he  rushed  out,  "  I've  got  it,  your  honour." 
In  the  evening  the  President  of  Trinity  was  again  walking 
round  the  building  for  further  supervision,  and  to  his 
astonishment  found  O'Shea  at  the  same  frieze  hammering 
away  as  determinedly  as  before.  The  President  was  out 
of  all  patience.  "  You  impudent  fellow  there,  did  not  I 
tell  you  this  morning  that  I  would  not  permit  you  to  dis- 
grace the  University  Museum  with  your  detestable  cats  ?  " 
"  Yer  did,  your  honour,  but,  an'  if  you  plase,  they  are 
not  cats  any  longer,  they're  monkeys."  And  so  as  monkeys 
they  remain  to  this  day. 

My  good  friend  Mr.  Thomas  Fairbairn  was  one  of 
the  Council  of  the  Manchester  Loan  Exhibition,  and  a 
guarantor.  The  collection  was  partly  hung  by  my  true 
defender,  Augustus  L.  Egg,  who  had  placed  all  my  pictures 
well.  Mr.  Fairbairn  had  taken  great  interest  in  my 
Eastern  work  as  well  as  in  my  earlier  pictures,  and  invited 
me  to  stay  with  him  and  to  visit  the  collection.  I  walked 
with  him  into  Manchester  every  morning,  and  we  talked 
frequently  about  art  and  artists.  Before  starting  one 
day  he  showed  me  some  marble  busts  of  members 
of  his  family,  and  inquired  whether  they  were  not  very 
good.  I  spoke  of  Woolner,  who  had  just  done  the  bust 


160         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

of  Tennyson,  but  otherwise  had  had  little  opportunity  to 
prove  his  ability,  and  I  pointed  out  to  what  a  low  level 
sculpture  had  sunk.  "  You  are  now  in  a  position  to  take 
a  leading  course  in  art  matters,"  I  said  ;  "  were  it  not  so, 
I  should  have  avoided  lowering  your  satisfaction  in  these 
family  portraits,  which  are  fair  examples  of  the  sculpture 
of  the  day.  But  you  ought  to  have  better  works  of  art, 
and  I  think  I  shall  convince  you  that  you  can  get  much 
superior  work  from  a  fellow-student  of  ours  who  was  one 
of  our  Brotherhood  ;  his  name  is  Woolner,  and  I  must  tell 
you  more  about  him."  Fairbairn  laughed  good-naturedly, 
replying,  "  That  you  shall."  And  as  we  went  along  I  told 
him  of  Woolner's  early  struggles  ;  of  his  competition  for 
the  Wordsworth  statue,  and  the  disappointing  verdict 
upon  it  ;  of  his  emigration  to  the  gold  diggings,  and  his 
resumption  of  artistic  work  in  Australia  ;  of  his  return  to 
England,  and  fresh  disappointment  over  the  Wentworth 
competition,  and  of  his  present  position.  I  dwelt  upon  the 
excellence  of  the  Tennyson  bust,  and  of  the  medallions  and 
heads  he  was  then  doing  in  his  studio,  and  urged  Fairbairn 
to  let  me  take  him,  when  next  in  town,  to  see  Woolner. 
He  was  interested,  and  revived  the  subject  frequently. 
On  an  early  evening  after  this  talk,  when  we  had  retired 
to  the  smoking  -  room,  my  host  began  thus  :  "  I  have 
thought  over  the  case  of  your  friend  the  sculptor,  and 
have  spoken  of  it  to  Mrs.  Fairbairn,  and  she  is  much 
interested.  You  know  we  have  two  children  who  are  deaf 
and  dumb  ;  it  was  a  great  affliction  to  us  at  first,  but  as 
they  grew  up,  and  the  singular  difference  of  themselves 
from  the  rest  of  the  world  struck  them,  a  confiding  affec- 
tion for  one  another  showed  itself  in  the  children,  which 
brought  us  great  consolation,  and  my  wife  and  I  often 
confessed  that  we  should  like  to  have  some  memento  of 
the  sweet  sympathy  in  their  isolation.  We  have  now 
agreed  that  we  will  have  a  marble  group  done  of  them  by 
your  friend,  and  when  you  go  home  you  may  prepare  him 
for  our  visit  to  give  him  the  commission." 

1  could  only  say  that  this  would  be  a  splendid  oppor- 


vi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      161 

tunity  for  Woolner  to  prove  his  powers,  and  that  I  hoped 
he  would  make  a  great  success. 

I  had  suggested  to  Woolner  that  the  weakness  of 
his  claim  for  just  recognition  consisted  in  his  having 
nothing  of  an  imaginative  kind  to  show  on  full  scale, 
and  I  had  urged  him  to  undertake  some  simple  group 
that  would  prove  he  had  the  power  to  express  beauty 
in  dramatic  interest,  but  he  had  pointed  out  that 
he  had  no  patron.  When  I  urged  that  I  made 
pictures  and  trusted  to  find  the  patron  afterwards,  he 
would  not  allow  that  he  could  do  the  same,  because  no 
one  took  notice  of  a  mere  plaster  cast  of  a  design,  and 
he  could  not  afford  to  risk  the  cost  of  marble  and 
assistants'  work. 

So  important  a  commission  from  Mr.  Fairbairn  was 
more  than  I  had  expected  to  obtain  for  Woolner,  but  my 
generous  friends  when  the  large  group  was  advanced,  even 
exceeded  their  original  proposal  by  commissioning  the 
sculptor  also  to  make  busts  and  medallions  of  Rajah 
Brooke,  of  Sir  William  Fairbairn,  the  great  engineer,  and 
other  important  friends. 

Woolner  was  in  some  respects  a  mystery  to  me.  I 
had  been  championing  him  in  many  quarters,  and  had 
often  cited  him  as  an  example  of  the  injustice  done  to 
English  sculpture,  by  the  rage,  then  as  ever  rampant 
among  the  dilettanti,  for  adoring  foreign  sculptors. 
Marochetti  really  had  the  support  of  all  the  aristocracy 
for  public  commissions,  and  once  I  heard  in  a  club  a 
talker  of  great  influence  declare,  that  since  our  climate  or 
our  nature  made  it  hopeless  to  produce  a  native  genius, 
we  should  aim  at  gaining  honour, — as  our  predecessors 
had  done  in  the  cases  of  Torrigiano  and  the  painters 
Holbein,  Antonio  More,  Rubens,  Vandyck,  and  others — 
by  giving  our  fullest  appreciation  and  support  to  so  great 
a  sculptor  as  the  Italian  who  had  come  to  live  amongst 
us.  I  said  that  it  was  by  such  folly  that  there  was 
temporary  ground  for  saying  that  the  country  which 
had  produced  Flaxman  was  incapable  of  genius.  Such 

VOL.    II  M 


162         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

prejudice  clearly  existed  in  Canova's  time,  but  it  was  not 
shared  by  him,  since  he  expressed  surprise  that  in  all  the 
London  circles  to  which  he  was  invited  the  great  English 
designer — renowned  all  over  the  Continent  for  his  excel- 
lence— was  never  met.  Marochetti  had  executed  effective 
statues  abroad,  and  had  done  some  striking  works  in 
England,  where  perhaps  a  certain  strain  of  theatricality 
did  not  lower  the  estimate  formed  of  him.  Assuming 
for  the  nonce  that  the  unqualified  admiration  which  the 
English  extended  to  him  was  fully  justified,  it  cannot 
be  denied  that  had  the  Baron  commenced  his  career  in  a 
country  where  all  the  commissions  for  statuary  were 
given  to  foreigners,  he  would  have  had  no  opportunity 
of  attaining  the  position  he  had  now  won. 

I  often  instanced  Woolner's  bust  of  Tennyson  as  dis- 
tinctly better  than  any  male  head  Marochetti  had  ever 
done,  and  no  one  ventured  to  dispute  the  point  ;  but 
when  they  asked  me  what  Woolner  could  show,  or  what 
designs  could  be  seen  of  a  poetic  kind,  I  had  to  confess 
that  my  friend  had  never  had  an  opportunity  of  realising 
female  grace  and  beauty. 

Woolner,  when  introduced  to  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Fairbairn, 
had  perfectly  charmed  them  by  his  enthusiastic  responsive- 
ness. He  went  down  to  Manchester  shortly  after  to  make 
sketches  for  the  group. 

The  works  of  our  school  were  received  so  favour- 
ably by  the  Manchester  potentates  that  I  assumed 
they  had  become  converted  to  our  views.  Once  when 
talking  to  my  host  about  modern  art  I  did  not 
hesitate  to  refer  to  our  school  as  Pre-Raphaelite  in 
contradistinction  to  others.  He  stopped  the  conver- 
sation with  a  serious  countenance  and  said  :  "  Let  me 
advise  you,  when  talking  to  Manchester  people  about 
the  works  of  your  school,  not  to  use  that  term  ;  they  are 
disposed  to  admire  individual  examples,  but  the  term  has 
to  them  become  one  of  such  confirmed  ridicule  that  they 
cannot  accept  it  calmly  !  "  As  the  thinking  circles  in 
London  had  so  generally  ceased  to  adopt  this  tone,  it 


vi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      163 

was  enlightening  to  me  to  find  that  the  prejudice  still 
lingered  with  such  rancour  in  the  North.  F.  Madox 
Brown's  picture  "  Christ  washing  Peter's  Feet  "  was  among 
the  works  exhibited,  being  well  seen,  although  above  the 
line.  The  body  of  the  Saviour,  originally  nude,  was  at 
this  time  clothed.  I  wrote  to  him  saying  that  I  thought 
if  he  came  to  Manchester  he  might  make  valuable  friends  ; 
but  on  his  appearance  I  was  sorry  that  I  had  pressed  him 
to  come,  because  it  so  distressed  him  to  find  his  picture 
not  on  the  line,  a  vexation  I  had  not  anticipated. 

It  would  be  too  confusing  to  trace  in  successive  steps 
the  details  of  Rossetti's  actions  when  he  had  diverged  from 
the  combination  with  the  original  P.R.B.,  I  therefore 
continue  his  story  when  he  had  exchanged  us  for  new  and 
younger  friends,  which  anticipates  a  period  of  some  years. 
After  the  publication  in  the  Oxford  and  Cambridge  Magazine 
of  "  The  Burden  of  Nineveh,"  Ruskin's  appreciation  of 
Rossetti's  powers  was  justly  widened,  so  that  instead  of 
claiming  for  him  a  sort  of  equality  with  Millais  and  me, 
as  he  did  in  the  beginning  of  his  acquaintance  with  Gabriel, 
he  henceforth  spoke  of  Millais  and  myself  in  his  notes  on 
the  Royal  Academy,  and  elsewhere,  as  quite  secondary 
in  comparison  with  his  newer  protege.  Millais  and  I 
had  no  leisure  to  read  every  pronouncement  on  our 
works  that  was  published,  we  therefore  did  not  heed 
the  terms  in  which  Ruskin  compared  the  different 
members  of  our  school.  It  is  needful  to  point  this  out, 
or  it  might  be  asked  why  we  did  not  at  the  time  challenge 
the  statement  of  Rossetti's  leadership.  For  my  part,  not 
then  contemplating  the  duty  of  historian  to  the  Brother- 
hood, I  did  not  feel  called  upon  to  heed  Ruskin's  verdict. 
Indeed,  I  should  never  argue  the  point,  for  it  is  a  matter 
of  small  importance  which  of  the  three  was  the  originator 
of  our  movement,  provided  that  the  desired  object  was 
attained.  But  what  makes  the  question  vital  is,  Whether 
Rossetti's  inspiration  of  ideals  and  manner  of  work  did 
represent  the  original  purpose  of  Pre-Raphaelitism  ?  I 
do  not  disparage  the  genius  that  Rossetti  showed  in  his 


1 64         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

painting  any  more  than  that  of  his  poetry,  but  I  shall 
have  to  pursue  this  subject  further  to  prevent  a  misunder- 
standing as  to  what  Pre-Raphaelitism  was,  at  the  time  it 
was  established. 

Each  laudation  by  Ruskin  of  Rossetti  was  soon  bruited 
abroad  by  his  privileged  disciples.  I  had  remonstrated 
unreservedly  with  Ruskin  over  his  criticism  of  the  "  Sir 
Isumbras,"  to  argue  with  him  about  any  special  criticism 
was  within  my  right,  but  it  was  not  in  my  province  to  take 
up  the  general  question  of  his  judgment  of  our  relative 
merits  ;  he,  as  any  other  arbiter,  could  formulate  his  inde- 
pendent opinion  and  publish  the  same  ;  critical  opinion, 
as  such,  I  knew  would  eventually  find  its  proper  level. 
Rossetti  was  in  this  turning  period  of  his  life  making  some 
admirable  designs,  his  Cardiff  Cathedral  altar-piece  was 
executed  at  the  turning-point  from  his  first  severity  of 
style  to  a  more  sensuous  manner. 

Carlyle  asked  Woolner  at  this  time  what  was  the 
truth  about  Ruskin's  statement  that  Rossetti  was  the 
greatest  genius  of  the  age,  and  Woolner  expressed  his 
bewilderment.  Rossetti's  undergraduate  followers,  not 
having  known  of  the  stages  of  his  tardy  development  as  a 
painter,  were  easily  disposed  to  ignore  any  facts  which 
militated  against  claims  to  his  priority  among  us. 

The  spirit  of  discord  was  now  no  longer  disguised, 
and  there  was  no  conclave  existing  to  direct  the  true 
interests  of  our  reform  movement.  We  had  hoped  to 
hand  on  to  later  generations  the  heritage  ot  our  own 
experience  ;  this  dream  of  corporate  heredity  could  no 
longer  be,  but  there  were  traditions  already  secured.  In 
our  first  start  it  cannot  be  said  that  Gabriel's  proselytizing 
passion  had  resulted  happily,  but  in  these  days  of  disintegra- 
tion, the  men  upon  whom  his  choice  fell  were  of  the  strongest 
artistic  nature,  although  through  the  University  prejudice 
of  the  day,  their  tendency  was  for  revived  Gothic,  which 
Rossetti's  medievalism  accepted  with  more  welcome  than 
Millais  and  I  would  have  approved.  Constrained  as  we 
had  been  and  still  were,  we  had,  however,  not  left  our 


vi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      165 

effort  to  re-establish  art  craftsmanship  without  record,  nor 
without  foundations  for  further  extension.1 

During  my  patient  struggle  about  ways  and  means, 
which  I  fear  to  dwell  upon  unduly,  my  visits  to  the 
Cosmopolitan  Club  and  a  circle  of  literary  and  artistic 
friends  were  a  refreshing  distraction  to  me. 

Kensington  often  then  rejoiced  in  a  throng  on  their 
way  to  Little  Holland  House,  who  were  happy  in  the 
certainty  of  there  meeting  the  most  interesting  leaders  of 
English  society.  The  days  of  the  old  India  Company 
were  not  yet  numbered,  and  naturally  the  house  repre- 
sented all  matters  of  East  Indian  concern  to  an  unlimited 
degree.  The  national  interests  in  India  alone  would  have 
impelled  senators  of  all  grades  to  throng  a  home  where 
the  last  questions  of  Indian  affairs  were  discussed,  but 
Watts's  numerous  friends  added  to  the  charm  of  the 
company.  Aristocrats  there  were  of  ministerial  dignity, 
and  generals  fresh  from  flood  and  field,  appearing  in  un- 
pretending habit,  talking  with  the  modesty  of  real  genius, 
and  adding  an  interest  to  life  such  as  nothing  else  could 
give.  Mrs.  Prinsep  was  cordiality  itself,  and  surrounded 
by  her  sisters,  could  not  but  make  an  Englishman  feel  proud 
of  the  beauty  of  the  race.  In  the  season  the  company  was 
received  out  of  doors,  played  bowls  and  croquet  on  the 
lawn  at  hand,  and  tables  with  tea,  at  which  Mrs.  Prinsep 
presided,  were  placed  under  shady  elms,  where  in  the 
summer  time  the  dinner  table  was  occasionally  brought 
out,  many  artists  were  present,  and  literary  stars  shone  in 
brilliant  scintillation. 

To  enter  into  the  spirit  of  the  times  it  is  necessary  to 
read  what  had  most  recently  startled  the  world  of  letters. 
Thackeray's  Lectures  on  the  Four  Georges  had  been  greatly 
admired  on  one  side,  while  on  the  other  the  book  was 
a  grave  cause  of  offence.  The  wife  ot  General  Fox,  a 
handsome  and  natural  daughter  of  William  IV.,  surpris- 
ingly sweet  tempered,  explained  her  views  to  be  those  of 
most  courtly  people,  that  such  sarcastic  strictures  upon 

1    See  Chapter  xxii. 


166         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

the  "Georges"  should  never  have  been  delivered  while 
many  of  their  children  still  lived.  It  was  a  pleasure  to 
survey  the  handsome  and  very  amiable  features  of  this 
lady.  Charley  Collins  said  that  to  talk  with  her  was  like 
conversing  with  an  old-fashioned  half-crown. 

One  Sunday  afternoon,  coming  along  the  path  from 
the  gate  to  the  house,  Thackeray  met  his  old  Carthusian 
schoolfellow  Lord  Wensleydale.  Thackeray  saluted  him, 
and  Lord  W.  studiously  turned  up  his  head  and  affected 
indignation  towards  the  unsycophantic  author.  Thackeray 
stopped,  and  before  his  quondam  friend  had  got  out  of 
hearing,  affecting  serious  concern,  but  yet  in  tones  of 
playground  raillery  said,  "  Dear,  dear  me,  I'm  afraid  I've 
greatly  offended  my  Lord  Tuesdaydale  !  " 

Children  romped  over  the  lawn,  diverted  from  their 
play  for  the  moment  when  a  certain  peer  came  in  followed 
by  a  string  of  twelve  French  poodles,  his  own  hair  curled 
to  match  their  fantastic  coiffure.  With  such  unparalleled 
success  as  these  representative  parties  had,  it  was  inevit- 
able that  the  jealous  should  have  their  fling  at  them. 
One  comment  was  that  "  Mrs.  P.'s  tea-gardens  were 
verv  popular."  Indoors,  Joachim  and  Halle  played, 
while  Piatti  and  Garcia  took  their  parts,  and  men  were 
enraptured  with  Watts's  work.  Old  Thoby  Prinsep's 
hearty  laugh  filled  up  the  intervals,  and  was  equal  to 
any  music.  The  son,  Arthur,  was  going  out  to  join  his 
regiment  in  India.  Anxious  talk  there  was  soon  after  of 
mysterious  discontent  amongst  the  sepoys.  This  continued 
for  a  month  or  two,  when  suddenly  news  came  of  the 
outbreak  of  the  Mutiny.  A  cloud  of  fear  spread  over  the 
house,  but  Mrs.  Prinsep,  the  mother,  still  clung  to  the 
hope  that  her  son's  regiment  would  be  loyal.  But  word 
arrived  that  its  sepoys  also  had  killed  nearly  all  their  officers 
on  the  parade-ground  ;  and  this  was  followed  by  news 
that  Arthur  had  galloped  off,  followed  by  numerous  shots, 
and  losing  his  shako,  had  to  ride  for  three  days  through  the 
burning  sun,  being  refused  succour  and  even  a  covering 
for  his  head  by  the  villagers  he  passed  on  his  way.  These 


v.        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      167 

tidings  came  from  a  friend  who  was  then  on  the  station 
nursing  him  for  sunstroke,  from  which  his  glory  of  hair 
had  not  saved  him.  Every  one  grieved  for  the  family, 
and  Thackeray  wrote  some  touching  verses,  which  he  pre- 
sented to  the  mother  with  his  own  hand.  The  music  was 
listened  to  in  silence,  and  many  a  father  could  be  seen 
resting  his  head  upon  his  hand,  the  tears  defying  conceal- 
ment as  they  trickled  down  his  fingers.  The  veteran 
Henry  Taylor,  dramatic  poet  and  Government  official,  was 
a  constant  presence  in  the  throng,  and  shared  in  sympathy 
in  both  personal  and  national  tribulation  :  he  was  of 
statuesque  aspect  and  of  demeanour  somewhat  dramatic. 
The  hearty  Tom  Hughes,  fresh  in  his  "  Tom  Brown  " 
laurels,  and  his  happy  wife  shed  a  cordial  spirit  about 
them  as  they  hailed  both  old  and  young. 

Canvassed  as  Thackeray  was  in  general  society  at  that 
time,  in  his  own  home  he  was  a  figure  of  loving  interest. 
Once  when  I  had  been  dining  with  him,  seeing  a  marble 
bust  of  him  as  a  boy,  I  remembered  the  reported  remark 
of  the  housekeeper  at  Charterhouse  (after  his  pugilistic 
encounter  with  Venables).  "  You  have  destroyed  the 
good  looks  of  the  handsomest  boy  in  the  school,"  she  said 
to  his  antagonist  on  seeing  the  bruise  which  Thackeray's 
face  had  received.  The  bust  was  well  modelled  and  carved, 
and  admirable  for  its  open  expression.  It  registered  the  form 
ot  the  nose,  the  sinking  of  the  bridge  which  distinguished 
his  handsome,  dignified  face.  When  I  had  silently 
decided  this,  Thackeray  noticed  me  and  exclaimed,  "  I 
know  what  you  are  wondering  at  ;  you  want  to  know 
whether  the  bust  was  done  '  before  or  after  '  !  Well, 
it  was  done  before."  This  being  so,  one  could  see  that 
his  antagonist  was  properly  exonerated  from  the  heavy 
charge  made  against  him  at  the  time. 

Tennyson's  unflinching  truthfulness  of  nature  was 
more  impressive  at  every  intercourse.  Once  when  he 
came  up  in  unceremonious  guise  for  a  short  engagement 
in  town,  and  was  staying  with  blue-eyed  Venables  at  his 
chambers  in  the  Temple,  suddenly  he  was  invaded  by 


1 68         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

the  not-to-be-refused  Mrs.  Prinsep,  who  declared  that 
her  brougham  was  waiting  at  the  gate  in  Fleet  Street 
to  take  him  back  to  Kensington.  Excuses  of  want  of 
evening  dress  were  all  in  vain.  He  was  told  that  he  should 
have  a  smoking-room  to  himself  and  that  he  should  be 
invited  to  see  no  guests  but  those  of  his  own  asking,  so  he 
had  to  capitulate  and  be  driven  westward.  At  once  I  was 
summoned  to  join  him.  After  some  talk  he  unwarily 
descended  into  the  garden.  There  the  numerous  company 
proved  it  to  be  a  gala  day,  and  Tennyson  thoughtlessly 
approached  the  hostess,  who  was  welcoming  a  quick 
succession  of  guests.  Soon  he  was  engulfed  in  the  stream, 
and  Mrs.  Prinsep  took  occasion  to  present  a  gentleman 
as  "  the  Editor  of  the  Midnight  Beacon."  Tennyson 
silently  blinked  at  him  with  his  head  craned.  The  lady 
felt  need  of  overcoming  the  awkwardness  of  the  position, 
and  ejaculated,  "  Mr.  Tennyson  is  delighted  to  make  your 
acquaintance  !  "  Tennyson,  with  the  stranger  still  standing 
waiting,  turned  to  Mrs.  Prinsep  and  said  inquiringly  but 
without  petulance,  "  What  made  you  say  that  ?  I  did  not 
say  that  I  was  delighted  to  make  his  acquaintance  "  ;  and 
this  query  dispersed  the  little  group  with  the  best  grace 
each  could  assume,  leaving  Tennyson  unintended  master 
of  the  situation. 

The  Poet  Laureate  did  not  come  down  from  his  room 
again  until  dinner  was  announced.  He  had  expected 
nothing  but  a  family  gathering,  but  it  proved  to  be  a 
large  party  correctly  attired  at  a  long  table,  and  the  kind 
hostess  appointed  that  I  should  sit  immediately  opposite 
to  the  unconscious  lion  of  the  evening,  to  prime  him 
about  the  guests  and  their  talk.  Every  one  peered  in 
turn  to  see  the  writer  of  In  Memoriam,  but  there  were 
other  interests,  and  soon  the  hubbub  became  deafen- 
ing. Tennyson  addressed  his  sonorous  voice  to  me, 
saying,  u  In  this  company  there  ought  to  be  Lady  Somers, 
whose  beauty  I  have  heard  so  much  extolled.  I  can't 
see  her  anywhere,  is  she  here  ?  "  and  he  looked  searchmgly 
along  the  table.  It  was  a  delicate  question  to  answer  with 


vi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       169 

full  voice,  but  I  did  my  best.  Tennyson  soon  showed 
perplexity,  put  up  his  right  hand,  waved  it  from  side  to 
side,  saying,  "  Your  voice  sounds  like  the  piping  of  a  little 
bird  in  the  storm." 

Such  refreshing  change  and  distraction  gave  me  the 
more  courage  to  meet  the  difficulties  which  obstructed 
my  progress  with  the  Temple  picture.  My  day  was  an 
exhausting  one  ;  at  nine  I  began  my  painting,  in  the 
course  of  the  day  I  had  to  spare  time,  which  frequently 
•extended  to  an  hour  or  two,  directing  and  amending 
my  sister's  practice,  and  that  of  the  friends  who  painted 
with  her.  When  I  returned  to  my  own  easel,  to  save 
my  quickly-drying  paint,  it  was  needful  to  exert  myself 
the  more  determinedly  and  to  continue  thus  until  the 
darkness  stopped  me.  After  dinner  I  sallied  forth  to 
the  Life  School,  and  took  up  my  book  illustrations.  I 
then  had  to  engage  in  very  extensive  correspondence,  and 
not  until,  in  addition,  I  had  attended  to  housekeeping, 
had  my  day's  work  ceased. 

It  has  been  recorded  that  in  the  first  days  ot  our 
•struggle  anonymous  and  insulting  letters  came  to  us. 
Some  nameless  correspondents  were  now  of  different 
spirit  to  these  earlier  writers  ;  they  professed  sincere 
interest  in  my  first  works,  expressed  regret  that  I  should 
.allow  so  long  a  time  to  go  by  without  producing  other 
pictures,  and  argued  in  a  touching  vein  of  compliment 
that  I  owed  a  duty  to  the  world  which  I  ought  not  to 
neglect.  My  unknown  admirers,  however,  seemed  to  be 
poor,  for  they  never  concluded  their  letters  with  an  offer 
•of  a  commission  ! 

It  is  not  mere  art  gossip  to  state  that  during  this 
period  some  young  adventurers  had  been  doing  a 
roaring  trade  in  manufacturing  Pre-Raphaelite  pictures 
for  second-class  picture  dealers  at  comparatively  hand- 
some prices.  The  success  of  our  imitators  tended  to 
make  mere  acquaintances  argue  that  if  the  followers  had 
such  good  fortune  the  leaders  must  be  affluent  ;  and  fre- 
quently I  was  appealed  to  by  honest  but  impecunious 


1 70  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  vi 

students  and  artists  for  help  with  advances  of  money 
under  the  conviction  that  I  was  a  wealthy  man.  One 
young  man  came  to  me  relating  that  he  was  in  debt,  and 
much  wanting  £10  to  pay  his  rent.  I  could  not  spare 
this  sum,  but  advanced  half  the  amount.  In  another 
month  he  appeared  again  with  a  light  elastic  step,  saying 
gaily  that  again  he  had  come  to  tax  my  purse.  At  this 
I  had  to  reveal  something  of  my  real  position.  He 
expressed  the  greatest  astonishment,  saying  that  every  one 
spoke  of  me  as  "  rolling  in  wealth." 

Continual  non-appearance  at  Exhibitions  was  seriously 
diminishing  my  prestige  ;  friends  also  were  expostulating, 
for  I  had  been  unable  to  contribute  any  subject  picture 
to  the  Exhibition  of  1857,  so  it  was  in  1858  and  1859, 
while  all  my  compeers  were  gaining  fame  by  annual  proofs 
of  their  genius.  This  so  disheartened  me  that  at  times  I 
questioned  whether  I  had  not  been  in  error  in  relinquishing 
the  idea  I  had  entertained  in  1851,  of  abandoning  the 
pursuit  of  art  altogether. 


CHAPTER    VII 

1858-1859,  1860 

There  arc  so  many  tender  and  holy  emotions  flying  about  in  our 
inward  world,  which  like  angels,  can  never  assume  the  body  of  an 
outward  act  ;  so  many  rich  and  lovely  flowers  spring  up  which  bear 
no  seed,  that  it  is  a  happiness  Poetry  was  invented,  which  receives  into 
its  limbus  all  these  incorporeal  spirits,  and  the  perfume  of  all  these 
flowers. — JKAN  PAUL  RICHTER. 

ONCE,  when  I  had  been  confessing  to  Woolner  that  1  was 
worn  out  with  work,  Mrs.  Tennyson  sent  me  an  urgent 
invitation  to  come  and  stay  with  her  and  her  lord  at 
Farringford.  I  put  aside  all  obstacles  and  went.  It  was 
the  noon  of  summer,  and  every  mile  of  the  journey  soothed 
my  tired  spirits.  On  this  occasion  I  saw  Mrs.  Tennyson 
for  the  first  time.  She  was  a  fitting  lady  to  be  helpmate 
even  to  such  a  man  as  the  kingly  Poet.  I  was  struck 
by  her  bearing  an  exalted  likeness  to  Oueen  Elizabeth. 
She  had  two  beautiful  boys  with  dusky  golden  locks, 
full  of  frolic  and  fun.  The  house  had  not  long  been 
built  ;  it  was  furnished  with  comfort,  but  devoid  of  expen- 
sive luxury.  Tennyson  told  me  it  was  paid  for  with 
his  first  earnings.  He  said  that  an  American  to  whom 
he  had  mentioned  this  fact,  had  said,  "Ah!  had  the 
opportunity  been  known  in  the  States,  the  money  would 
have  been  subscribed  for  you  with  a  handsome  margin, 
and  they  would  feel  honoured  to  do  so,  even  now."  Said 
Tennyson,  "  Had  this  been  done,  and  the  money  forwarded 


172         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

to  me  without  any  previous  knowledge  of  it,  I  would  have 
written  over  the  door — 

Populi  American!  donum." 

He  was  intent  on  questioning  me  about  the  East, 
and  we  spent  most  of  our  time  in  his  study  talking. 

On  some  small  panes  of  glass  which  would  have  had 
no  outlook  but  on  bare  brick,  Tennyson  had  tried  his 
hand  on  colour  decoration  (young  Millais,  it  will  be 
remembered,  had  for  the  same  object  painted  subjects  of 
knightly  and  saintly  story).  The  poet  had  introduced 
writhing  monsters  of  different  sizes  and  shapes,  swirling 
about  as  in  the  deep.  This  had  been  done  with  remarkable 
taste  and  judgment.  The  paints,  which  in  amateur  hands 
generally  have  an  abominable  habit  of  negativing  one 
another,  had  here  been  most  happily  combined  to  make 
mysterious  tints,  and  the  definition  of  forms  had  been 
judiciously  relinquished  when  only  a  general  suggestion 
had  been  achieved.  Thus  the  pigments  had  not  lost 
their  preciousness  by  over-elaboration,  which  would  have 
destroyed  the  decorative  quality.  His  absolute  kind- 
ness and  candour  were  illustrated  by  his  interest  in 
a  page-boy,  who  occasionally  came  into  the  room. 
When  the  boy  was  out  of  hearing,  Tennyson  once  asked 
me  whether  I  had  made  out  his  real  character.  I  con- 
fessed I  had  not  given  him  any  thought,  and  could  not 
fairly  express  an  opinion.  "  I  ask  you,"  he  pursued, 
*'  because  I  have  altogether  lost  his  respect."  "  His  respect," 
I  blurted  out,  "  how  ? "  "Well,"  continued  the  poet,  "  when 
the  boy  came  into  the  house,  I  thought  that  perhaps  1 
might  make  his  life  more  interesting  to  him,  and  I  asked 
him  whether  I  could  lend  him  any  book.  He  looked 
bewildered  and  answered,  'No.'  Thinking  the  reply 
might  proceed  from  shyness,  I  enumerated  several  books 
that  I  thought  might  be  attractive  to  such  a  lad,  but  he 
would  not  borrow  any  !  From  that  attempt  to  treat  him 
like  a  fellow  human  being,  I  have  lost  all  his  esteem.  Had 
he  gone  to  Mr.  -  -'s,  my  neighbour,  he  would  have  had 


vii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       173 

no  attention  paid  him,  the  master  would  scarcely  have 
noticed  him  as  a  stranger  in  the  house,  and  the  boy  would 
have  respected  him  as  a  proper  master  ;  because  I  departed 
from  this  rule,  he  despises  me  altogether.  My  house  is 
not  so  grand  as  others  in  the  neighbourhood,  so  the  boy 
concludes  that  I  am  not  a  real  gentleman,  and  he  shows 
his  low  estimate  of  me  by  his  grumpiness.  There  are  no 
doubt  men  of  the  lowest  class  without  education  at  all  who 
are  of  excellent  common-sense,  and  even  superior  judgment, 
and  there  are  men  who  have  had  all  the  ad  vantages  of  good 
position  and  education  who  are  imbeciles.  Withal  the  old 
feud  between  the  conquered  Saxon  and  the  Norman  still 
operates  ;  this  boy  has  the  bitterness  of  the  Saxon.  He 
is  ready  to  do  his  work,  black  the  boots,  or  brush  the 
clothes,  but  he  resents  the  show  of  kindness  as  con- 
descension from  a  Norman  master." 

Astonished,  I  replied,  "  Isn't  it  a  question  whether  the 
boy  has  ever  heard  about  the  Conquest  ?  " 

"  It  is  very  possible  he  has  never  heard  of  it,  but 
he  has  inherited  the  bitterness  of  feeling,  and  he  acts 
upon  it,"  persisted  the  mournful  master,  so  the  matter 
dropped. 

One  morning  we  went  up  to  the  beacon  on  the 
cliff,  and  after  enjoying  the  wind  for  an  hour  or  so, 
he  inquired  of  me  whether  I  could  detect  what  a  flying 
creature  could  be  that  we  saw  in  the  distance.  I  said, 
"  I  too  have  been  watching  it  some  minutes.  I  believe 
it's  an  eagle." 

"  That  is  scarcely  possible,  we  don't  have  eagles 
here,"  he  said. 

But  I  said  that  I  had  seen  too  many  of  the  royal 
birds  to  be  deceived  as  to  their  flight  and  form.  When 
it  passed  over  our  head  Tennyson  was  convinced, 
and  a  few  days  later  I  read  of  an  eagle  being  shot  in 
Hampshire. 

Tennyson's  short-sightedness,  which  made  him  bend 
his  head  forward  when  reading,  had  probably  contributed 
to  his  bearing,  which  was  the  reverse  of  defiant.  At  first 


i74         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

acquaintance  with  the  poet,  I  thought  that  later  in  my 
knowledge  of  him  I  should  see  some  phases  of  the  reined- 
back  pose  of  Woolner's  bust,  but  this  I  was  unable  to  do. 
A  casual  example  of  the  pains  he  took  to  overcome  the 
disadvantages  of  his  short-sight  occurred,  as  we  descended 
to  the  house.  A  shining  fragment  in  the  path  arrested 
his  steps.  He  stooped,  picked  up  the  glittering  morsel, 
and  placed  it  in  his  right  hand  close  to  his  eyes,  rolling  it 
in  the  palm  with  the  forefinger  of  his  left  hand,  he  then 
saw  it  to  be  a  portion  of  a  large  pebble  lately  splintered 
to  bits.  The  outside  surface  was  still  thickly  encrusted 
with  a  concrete-like  shell,  but  the  shattered  part  was  in 
facets  of  pale  ruby  colour,  resplendent  in  its  transparency. 
"Many  of  the  most  priceless  jewels,"  he  observed,  "are 
disguised  as  this  lustrous  crystal  was,  till  the  violence  came 
which  broke  it  up.  No  one  would  have  suspected,  in 
seeing  this  unsightly  stone  lying  with  clumsy  boulders, 
that  inside  there  could  be  such  a  gorgeous  gem."  And 
when  he  had  exhausted  his  examination  of  its  varied  phases, 
he  carefully  put  it  back  into  the  path  saying  that  it  ought 
to  be  left  there,  that  others  might  feel  delight  in  seeing 
it.  When  we  were  near  to  the  house,  the  luncheon  bell 
ringing,  he  stopped  and  pointed  along  the  road,  asking 
whether  there  were  not  excursionists  waiting  to  intercept 
our  approach.  I  said  that  there  were  some  apparently 
inoffensive  people  near  the  house.  Hearing  this, 
Tennyson  turned  aside  and  went  a  long  way  round  to 
escape  observation,  telling  me  by  the  way  that  when  he 
was  doing  any  work  in  the  garden,  he  would  hear  voices 
saying,  "  There  he  is — look,"  and  half-a-dozen  heads, 
male  and  female,  would  appear  in  a  row  above  the  wall. 
A  man  had  once  got  into  the  garden,  and  when  they  were 
at  luncheon,  the  intruder  was  seen  with  flattened  nose 
against  the  window-pane,  and  was  heard  to  say,  "  You  can 
see  him  well  from  here." 

On  one  occasion  he  spoke  with  lively  pain  of  a  review 
of  one  of  his  recent  poems  in  an  important  journal.  This, 
it  seemed,  had  not  only  condemned  his  versification  with 


vii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      175 

the  assumption  of  a  masterful  judgment,  but  had  made  a 
comparison  of  his  poem  with  those  of  a  period  when  all 
society  was  corrupted,  leaving  the  reader  to  adopt  the 
suggestions  which  such  comparison  was  sure  to  convey. 
I  had  seen  the  review,  and  had  contemptuously  put  it 
behind  the  fire.  Tennyson  bemoaned  that  other  copies 
had  escaped  the  flames,  and  had  gone  forth  with  their 
poison.  He  looked  upon  perverse  criticism  as  a  constant 
discouragement  to  writing,  but  I  remarked  that  he  gave 
too  much  attention  to  stings  of  such  small  insects  as  the 
writer  of  the  scandalous  article.  "  The  man  probably  has 
a  personal  grudge  against  you,"  I  said,  "  and  being  lifted 
to  the  throne  of  Jupiter  he  uses  his  thunder  without  scruple, 
many,  be  assured,  pass  by  his  malicious  nonsense  unnoted. 
It  is  doomed  to  forgetfulness,  to  that  limbo  to  which  all 
spitefulness,  and  the  authors  thereof,  are  bound  in  the  end." 

"Yes,"  said  Tennyson,  "but  when  I  have  earnestly 
tried  to  sift  out  of  the  store  of  deeply  imprinted  impres- 
sions the  reflections  that  present  themselves  as  having 
living  value,  it  is  natural  that  I  should  be  discouraged 
from  all  hope  of  influencing  them  when  a  man,  who  is 
evidently  educated,  and  has  some  knowledge  of  poetry, 
being  entrusted  with  a  position  of  authority,  misinterprets 
my  purpose  and  makes  it  convey  a  meaning  odious  to  my 
whole  soul." 

"  Such  a  state  of  things  is  indeed  disheartening,  not  to 
say  more,"  I  reflected,  "  but  somehow  good  work,  like  all 
truth,  does  get  recognised  in  time  ;  the  whole  of  history 
is  made  up  of  wrong  verdicts  revised." 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  "  but  while  the  grass  grows  the  steed 
starves  is  true  also." 

"  But,"  I  urged,  "  the  ordeal  of  professional  criticism 
upon  art  is  apparently  a  decree  of  modern  Providence  ; 
and  on  the  whole  the  complications  entailed  upon 
our  branch  of  art  are  more  arduous  than  on  yours  ; 
you  may  respect  the  faculties  of  your  reviewer  in 
his  degree  of  literary  proficiency.  Our  reviewer  gives 
no  such  proof  of  his  knowledge  of  the  subject  he 


1 76         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

descants  upon  ;  he  has  the  pen  of  a  ready  writer,  and 
this,  with  some  chit-chat  about  Gainsborough's  'Blue 
Boy,1  or  some  other  worn-out  gossip  or  phraseology,  is 
his  only  diploma.  Among  the  lovers  of  art  there  are 
many  who  are  not  influenced  by  such  oracles,  and  these 
often  declare  their  admiration  of  a  condemned  work,  but 
they  are  generally  young  professional  men,  too  poor  to  be 
patrons,  while  the  rich  collector  is  often  timid  as  to  his 
own  judgment,  and  wants  only  that  which  is  popular  at 
the  time.  Thus  the  painter  may  be  wrecked  in  his  career 
for  want  of  support.  Poets  who  are  too  good  for  their 
immediate  day  have  to  suffer  a  penalty  from  the  dis- 
pleasure of  their  too  hasty  judges  ;  but  there  remains  for 
them  also  independent  connoisseurs  who  could  not  afford 
to  buy  pictures,  yet  can  purchase  a  book.  But  perhaps 
from  an  impulse  to  make  the  wrong  you  suffer  less  bitter, 
I  am  dwelling  too  egotistically  on  the  grievances  of  my 
own  profession." 

His  laments  were  anon  varied  by  recitation,  or  rather 
intonation,  of  poems  to  which  I  had  made  special  allusion ; 
his  organ-like  voice  gave  these  with  the  fullest  grandeur. 

Sir  John  Simeon  frequently  called  at  Farringford  and 
discoursed  of  the  experiences  and  observations  of  his 
naval  life,  all  which  interested  the  poet  as  much  as  myself. 
One  day,  when  out  for  a  stroll,  we  visited  the  descendant 
of  the  officer  to  whom  Cromwell  had  consigned  the  care  of 
Charles  the  First  when  a  prisoner  at  Carisbrook  Castle, 
and  who,  from  scruples  as  to  his  right  to  be  the  king's 
gaoler,  gave  up  his  appointment. 

I  had  been  abroad  when  Tennyson  one  evening  in 
town  had  read  Maud  to  a  company  including  some  of  my 
friends  ;  but  when  at  Farringford  I  had  the  opportunity 
of  listening  to  other  poems  which  he  would  speak  of  as 
having  been  composed  by  him  on  some  subject  which 
chanced  to  engage  our  passing  attention.  If  I  remarked 
that  I  had  never  read  it,  his  reply  was  that  he  had  never 
written  the  verses  down  but  could  remember  them,  and 
this  he  would  do,  without  faltering  a  syllable,  although 


vir 


PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      177 


often  the  words  had  been  composed  twenty  or  more  years 
ago.  Many  poems  he  told  me  he  had  finished  and 
retained  only  in  his  memory.  Once  I  offered  for  his 
judgment  the  idea  of  a  great  monarch,  who  sees  only  the 

glories  of  his  rule,  and  not  the  miseries  that  are  concealed 

... 
from  his  sight,  likening  him   to  the  sun,  which  never  sees 

the  shadows  produced  by  the  interception  of  its  rays. 
"Yes,"  he  said,  "the  comparison  is  complete;  I  would 
have  used  it  had  it  occurred  to  me,  but  now  it  would  be 
Holman  Hunt's  and  not  Alfred  Tennyson's." 

After  my  visit  I  recalled  to  mind  many  matters 
which  I  should  have  liked  to  discuss  with  this  king 
of  gentle  nature  ;  the  opportunity  of  being  with  him 
alone  was  precious  and  I  valued  it  as  a  sacred  privilege. 
I  was  profoundly  impressed  by  the  unpretending 
nature  of  this  large  thinker  and  consummate  poet,  who, 
deeply  conversant  with  the  character  and  forms  of  pre- 
ceding singers  of  all  races  and  time,  yet  adopted  for 
his  themes  the  scenes,  moral  feeling,  and  science  of  his 
own  day  and  country.  His  simplicity  of  manner  was  by 
some  dwelt  upon  as  childish  ;  there  was  a  truth  under- 
lying the  comment,  for.  his  frankness  of  speech  was  like 
that  of  a  child,  whose  unembarrassed  penetration  surprises 
the  conventional  mind.  My  holiday  brought  balm  and 
health  to  me,  and  1  went  back  to  my  work  with  renewed 
zest. 

It  has  been  said  that  Millais  was  unreasonable  in  that 
he  showed  discontent  at  the  want  of  substantial  recogni- 
tion of  the  more  ambitious  work  he  was  producing  ; 
for  example,  when  his  picture  of  "  The  Vale  of  Rest  "  did 
not  immediately  find  admirers  and  a  purchaser,  he  was 
impatient,  while  the  commentators  say  that  in  fact  he  had 
but  little  time  to  wait  before  the  picture  was  sold.  Time 
will,  I  feel  sure,  justify  the  answer  I  have  to  give  to 
that  reproof.  This  artist  was  so  exceptional  in  excel- 
lence among  those  of  any  age  or  any  country  that  the 
question  is  not  whether  he  obtained  a  ready  market  year 
by  year,  but  whether  our  nation  was  making  proper  use  of 

VOL.    II  M 


1 78         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

his  genius.  Before  he  was  twenty  he  had  painted  a  picture 
which  bore  signs  of  more  capacious  ability  in  conception, 
composition,  drawing,  colour,  and  technical  qualities  com- 
bined than  any  painter  ever  displayed  at  such  youthful 
age.  He  had  now  been  before  the  world  in  varying,  but 
always  great  power  for  ten  or  more  years,  he  had  added 
to  the  glory  of  modern  art,  and  he  had  a  right  to  expect 
that  he  should  gain  in  return  the  ampler  opportunities  of 
exercising  his  genius  which  the  old  masters  had  universally 
been  afforded,  instead  of  merely  securing  a  tardy  liveli- 
hood. But  critics  had  hung  about  his  heels,  and  often  so 
far  impeded  him  that,  instead  of  large  or  laborious  efforts, 
he  had  been  forced  to  do  humbler  works  that  would  more 
easily  come  within  the  taste  and  the  means  of  the  general 
dealer  and  buyer.  In  no  other  age  would  such  an 
artist  have  been  left  without  some  national  opportunity 
of  exercising  his  genius.  There  were  indeed  painters 
and  sculptors  being  employed  to  decorate  the  Palace  at 
Westminster,  but  no  public  minister  amidst  the  clamour 
that  had  been  raised  against  our  "  heresy  "  would,  however 
much  he  might  have  been  instigated  by  his  own  taste, 
have  had  the  courage  to  employ  any  one  of  us  in  public 
work,  and  Millais  was  never  asked  by  any  church  dignitaries 
to  paint  for  them.  While  his  works  were  still  vehemently 
abused  by  the  press,  those  of  artists  of  mediocrity  were 
lauded  to  the  skies,  and  certain  of  these  painters  were 
favoured  by  Parliamentary  Commissioners  of  Fine  Art. 
Now,  persons  of  superficial  reflection  often  say  that 
Millais  ought  not  under  any  temptation  to  have  swerved 
from  his  higher  inspirations,  but  great  art  cannot  be  pro- 
duced even  by  men  of  the  purest  genius,  if  they  are  not 
supported  by  the  country's  demand  for  their  work  ;  the 
nation  must  be  behind  them,  just  as  it  must  equip  and 
provide  for  the  soldier  fighting  for  its  cause.  Raphael, 
when  commissioned  by  the  Pope  to  paint  the  "  Stanze," 
was  only  twenty-five  years  of  age,  and  there  can  be  no 
sober  doubt  that  he  had  not  then  done  work  of  such 
original  power  as  Millais  had  shown  before  he  was  that  age. 


vii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       179 

Had  Raphael  died  before  his  work  in  the  Vatican  was  under- 
taken, his  earlier  paintings  facile  and  obediently  learned  as 
they  were,  would  have  placed  him  only  in  the  second  rank 
of  Italian  artists.  Surely  a  man  of  genius  has  a  right  to 
marry  when  he  has  established  his  commanding  position, 
and  being  married  he  is  called  upon  to  support  his 
family.  Millais  in  this  position  found  himself  driven  to 
despair  and  want  of  faith,  in  the  possibility  ot  teaching 
his  countrymen  the  value  of  poetic  art.  "  I  have  striven 
hard,"  he  said  to  me,  "  in  the  hope  that  in  time  people 
would  understand  me  and  estimate  my  best  productions  at 
their  true  worth,  but  they  (the  public  and  private  patrons) 
go  like  a  flock  of  sheep  after  any  silly  bell-wether  who 
clinks  before  them.  I  have,  up  to  now,  generally  painted 
in  the  hope  of  converting  them  to  something  better,  but  I 
see  they  won't  be  taught,  and  as  I  must  live,  they  shall 
have  what  they  want,  instead  of  what  I  know  would  be 
best  for  them.  A  physician  sugars  his  pill,  and  I  must 
do  the  same."  There  was  a  great  rage  at  the  time,  under 
the  direction  of  a  certain  leader  of  the  rout,  that  painters 
should  do  works  only  of  contemporary  subjects.  The 
incidents  that  are  historically  important  are  rarely 
recognised  to  be  so  till  many  years  afterwards.  On  the 
day  that  rough  George  Stephenson  arrived  in  London,  no 
one  saw  that  his  coming  was  the  most  important  event 
in  Europe,  that  a  complete  change  in  the  civilisation  of 
all  the  races  on  the  planet  was  thus  heralded.  Modern 
subjects  that  are  paintable  are  generally  of  no  historic 
moment.  The  demand  for  representations  of  trivial 
incidents  was  steady,  and  Millais  being  encouraged  to 
seek  these,  often  displayed  great  taste  in  their  selection 
and  treatment.  His  "Apple  Blossoms"  (1859)  was  an 
excellent  example  of  this  class,  "  Trust  Me  "  had  many 
pictorial  excellences,  and  "  My  First  Sermon  "  and  "  My 
Second  Sermon  "  were  endearing  efforts  of  his  power  in 
this  strain  ;  but  some  which  it  is  needless  to  instance, 
however  excellent  in  workmanship,  must  have  been  done 
simply  to  meet  the  vulgar  demand.  Up  to  the  year  1859 


i8o         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

he  painted  in  Perth,  then  he  settled  in  Cromwell  Place 
and  finished  "  The  Vale  of  Rest,"  and  "  The  Love  of 
James  the  First  of  Scotland." 

We  perhaps  beyond  other  artists  were  saddened  to 
hear  that  C.  R.  Leslie  was  in  danger  and  had  to  undergo 
a  serious  operation  which  unhappily  did  not  save  his  life. 
A  few  days  after  his  death  his  son  George  Leslie  called 
upon  Millais  specially  to  deliver  a  message  from  the  dying 
artist.  The  charge  was  :— 

"  Go  to  Millais  and  tell  him  that  the  future  of  English 
art  is  in  his  hands,  and  beg  him  to  exercise  his  fullest 
power  to  sustain  its  honour  and  glory." 

This  generous  recognition  of  Millais  and  his  aspira- 
tions marked  a  departure  from  the  mistrust  of  most  of 
the  Academicians  towards  even  that  one  of  us  who  was  a 
member  of  their  own  Body. 

Watts  up  to  this  time  had  been  treated  with  only 
prejudiced  toleration,  his  pictures  being  put  high  up,  in 
corners,  and  unfavourable  places.  Indeed  it  was  said  that 
one  of  the  Academicians  always  remarked,  "  Oh,  there's  a 
Watts,  let  us  sky  it."  In  the  year  1858  he  determined  to 
conceal  his  identity,  and  sent  in  two  large  portraits  of  some- 
what unusual  style  tor  him  under  the  name  F.  W.  George  ; 
these  were  admirably  placed,  and  widely  recognised.  The 
following  is  a  reference  by  Walter  Thornbury  in  the 
Athenaeum  to  P.R.B.  works  :-—• 

EXHIBITION  AT   R.A.,    1858 

...  In  portraits  there  are  the  Pre-Raphaelite  ones  by  a  new- 
name,  Mr.  George  (we  believe  a  mere  masquerade),  full  of  merit. 
.  .  .  The  two  best  portraits  in  the  exhibition  are  by  Mr.  George- 
Assumed  name),  really  the  works  of  Mr.  Watts,  a  known  cartoon 
drawer.  They  are  Miss  Senior  (167)  and  Miss  .Lden  (185).  They 
are,  in  fact,  great  and  daring  experiments  of  introducing  a  Pre- 
Raphaelite  finish  of  accessories  into  portraits — laurel  bushes,  box 
borders,  gravel  walks  and  flowers,  instead  of  the  venerable  and  im- 
memorial books,  curtains,  pillars,  and  sloppy  green  distances.  Paint 
furniture  well  and  faces  well,  and  the  face  will  maintain  the  old 
superioritv  all  the  world  over.  Let  Mr.  Pickersgill  paint  red 


vii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      181 

blobs  and  call  them  roses,  for  fear  well -painted  flowers  should 
detract  from  his  spotted,  unfinished  faces.  In  the  one  picture, 
Miss  Senior,  with  a  thoughtful,  fine  face,  walks  like  a  Miss  Bronte's 
heroine  down  a  garden,  in  a  gown  of  a  curious  brown  purple  colour, 
every  plait  and  fold  carefully  but  not  pedantically  drawn.  In  the' 
other,  a  lady  is  kneeling  upon  a  chair,  watering  flowers,  her  figure 
cutting  daringly  enough  with  certain  red  and  orange  draperies 
against  a  wall  of  bright  green.  Oh  remember,  portrait  painters, 
men  of  industry,  talent,  and  perhaps  still  some  faint,  foolish,  lurk- 
ing ambition,  if  you  do  not  paint  more  like  Mr.  George,  the  in- 
evitable gravitation  towards  the  garret  or  the  broker's  of  your  now 
applauded  pictures  ! 

EXHIBITION'  AT  R.A.,   1859 

.  .  .  Mr.  Watts's  "  Isabella  "  (438)  is  a  pretty  portrait,  painted 
in  the  manner  of  Sir  C.  Eastlake,  turned,  if  it  were  possible,  P.R.B. 
The  painting  is  a  little  flat  and  over-cautious,  but  there  is  a  great 
charm  about  it  ;  it  is  the  only  good  idealised  portrait  in  the 
exhibition,  and  it  is  well  and  fairly  hung  too,  which  is  miraculous. 

When  in  finishing  the  landscape  details  of  my  sketches 
of  earlier  pictures,  the  doing  of  which  most  readily  brought 
grist  to  the  mill,  I  was  glad  of  the  opportunity  of  enjoy- 
ing the  hospitality  of  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Combe.  In  the 
Colleges  I  found,  what  all  returned  truants  experience, 
that  much  of  the  known  life  had  vanished,  leaving  the 
background  nought  but  a  sad  memorial  of  the  past.  I 
felt  glad  that  the  University  Press  was  on  the  confines  of 
the  town  towards  Godstow  and  Wolvercott,  where  my 
painting  ground  lay.  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Combe  were  always 
angels  of  cheerful  benevolence  and  piety.  Attending 
constantly  the  Infirmary,  where  the  patients  were  made 
intimate  friends,  the  need  of  a  chapel  soon  became  evident 
to  Mrs.  Combe.  The  building  of  this  they  entrusted  to 
Arthur  Blomfield,  and  soon  after  its  completion,  finding 
the  neighbourhood  called  "Jericho"  increasing  greatly 
in  its  population,  they  engaged  the  same  architect 
to  build  a  church  and  schools  there,  dedicated  to  St. 
Barnabas.  A  new  duty,  the  consideration  of  which  cost  con- 
siderable anxiety,  arose  out  of  the  question  how  Mr.  Combe 


182 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAI>. 


could  keep  the  University  Press  a  continuing  source  of 
profit  instead  of  Joss,  as  before  his  management  it  had  been  ; 
the  University  had  made  him  an  M.A.  in  recognition  of 
his  improvement  of  their  affairs.  The  looming  trouble 


THOMAS    COMBE,    M.A. 


which  had  to  be  met  \vas  the  approaching  cessation  of  the 
monopoly  enjoyed  by  the  University  of  the  printing  of 
Bibles  and  Prayer  Books,  so  that  the  surplus  earned  by 
him,  and  threatened  by  this  outer  competition,  might  not 
be  lost.  He  knew  that  no  modern  Parliament  would 
continue  the  University  privilege,  and  he  was  driven  to 


VII 


PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       183 


consider  whether  the  papermakers'  profit  might  not  be 
saved  by  manufacturing  it  themselves,  but  the  University 
was  debarred  from  engaging  in  business.  One  way  that 
remained  was  for  him  to  make  the  venture  himself,  and 


MRS.    THOMAS    COMBE. 


when  the  enterprise  should  become  a  sound  undertaking, 
as  partner  to  the  University,  to  hand  over  the  factory  to 
the  authorities  as  part  of  their  established  printing  industry. 
There  was  a  mill  then  out  of  use  at  Wolvercott,  and  we 
had  wended  our  way  there  not  infrequently  in  the  character 
ot  searchers  after  the  picturesque.  Eventually  the  mill  was 


184         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

taken,  adapted  for  the  change  of  work,  and  a  cheery 
manager,  one  Mr.  Stacey,  was  installed  in  the  little 
cottage.  This  had  two  rooms  always  reserved  for  Mrs. 
Combe's  tea  when  she  came  over  in  the  pony  carriage. 
The  neighbourhood  was  perfect  for  such  work  as  I  had  to 
do,  I  rode  over  Port  Meadows  in  the  morning,  and  made 
the  fields  of  Godstow  my  studio  till  sunset,  when,  generally, 
there  was  assembled  a  pleasant  party  with  whom  to  return 
by  twilight. 

Still,  for  what  seemed  a  long  time  there  was  doubt 
about  this  project  in  the  Squire's  mind — Mr.  Combe  was 
always  thus  called — and  the  difficulties  became  a  subject 
of  talk  with  him,  although  it  never  clouded  either  the 
master's  or  mistress's  face  to  the  recipients  of  their  bounty, 
either  at  Jericho  or  at  the  Mill.  Gradually  I  could  gather 
that  prospects  were  getting  better,  but  they  were  not  yet 
realised,  when  late  in  the  year  Mr.  Combe  said  to  me, 
"  Come  on  my  left  side,  I  am  not  deaf  there.  I  think 
under  your  circumstances,  with  so  much  real  property 
existing  in  the  far-advanced  Temple  picture,  your  horror 
of  becoming  a  borrower  is  a  virtue  carried  to  the  extent  of 
a  vice.  You  may  get  three  hundred  guineas  for  your 
little  replica  of  '  The  Hireling  Shepherd '  when  it  is 
finished,  this  will  take  another  month  or  two,  eh  ?  But 
I  gather  the  profit  will  almost  be  swallowed  in  rent  and 
back  claims.  Well,  what  will  you  do  then,  unless  you 
set  to  at  some  other  pot-boiler  ?  And  so  you  will  lose 
next  season,  and  '  The  Temple '  will  never  be  finished. 
Now  you  take  my  advice,  Hunt.  You  really  think  you 
could  finish  it  in  another  six  months  ;  I  think  so  too. 
Well,  borrow  £300  ;  that  would  keep  you  going,  and 
when  you  finish  and  sell  the  picture,  you'll  get  out  of 
difficulties  sooner  than  you  would  in  any  other  way." 

"But  grant  all  this,"  I  said,  "you  don't  mean  that 
Coutts  would  advance  me  the  money  on  my  unfinished 
picture  ?  " 

"No,  but  I  could  manage  it  easily  now,  and  I  should 
not  want  any  security,"  said  he,  as  he  looked  at  me  under 


vii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       185 

his  eyebrows  with  a  dart  of  merry  triumph  in  a  way  that 
drove  all  further  scruples  from  my  mind. 

I  was  now  free  on  going  back  to  town  to  work  on  the 
Temple  picture  for  a  longer  period  than  I  had  been  able 
to  do  since  my  return  from  the  East,  and  was  lavish  in 
my  arrangement,  obtaining  models  far  ahead  for  the  remain- 
ing figures  to  be  painted,  and  when  my  friends  outside 
asked  me  whether  my  picture  would  ever  be  done,  I  could 
reply  bravely  in  a  way  that  defied  bantering. 

The  position  of  ourselves  in  relation  to  Dickens  was  a 
delicate  one.  His  attack  in  Household  Words  upon  Millais' 
picture  of  1851  had  revealed  the  strongest  animus  against 
our  purpose,  and  thus  our  partiality  for  him  was  exer- 
cised only  by  the  reading  ot  his  works  ;  but  he  was  a  great 
friend  of  Wilkie  Collins  and  of  his  family,  their  good- 
souled  mother,  in  the  years  of  my  absence,  had  arranged 
a  meeting  of  Millais  and  the  great  author  at  dinner,  it 
resulted  in  removing  all  estrangement,  and  in  making 
Dickens  understand  and  express  his  sense  of  the  power 
of  Millais'  genius  and  character. 

Millais  always  spoke  of  the  meeting  with  satisfaction, 
but  a  letter  written  by  Dickens  a  few  days  after  the  dinner 
needlessly  and  ungraciously  endorsed  the  sentiments  of 
the  original  violent  article,  and  so  again  alienated  the  con- 
fidence of  our  circle  from  him.1 

Wilkie  Collins  began  his  reputation  by  writing  the  life 
of  his  father,  and  by  the  novel  entitled  Antonina.  He 
had  made  previous  essays  in  painting  ;  one  example  by 
him  was  exhibited  in  1849. 

The  biography  and  his  classical  romance  were  the  trial 
pacings  of  his  Pegasus,  and  he  was  now  exercising  his 
powers  in  serial  Christmas  numbers  and  the  like.  At  the 
time  that  he  was  writing  Mr.  Ray's  Cash-box,  Millais 
painted  the  admirable  little  portrait  of  the  young  author 
now  in  the  National  Portrait  Gallery,  which  remained 
to  the  end  of  his  days  the  best  likeness  of  him.  It 
will  be  seen  he  had  a  prominent  forehead,  and  in  full 

•    See  Life  c4'  Sir  John  E.  Millf'.:~,  by  his  Son. 


1 86          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

face  the  portrait  would  have  revealed  that  the  right  side 
of  his  cranium  outbalanced  in  prominence  that  of  the  left. 
Dickens  contracted  the  closest  friendship  with  Wilkie,  and 
they  were  collaborators  together  in  Christmas  numbers— 
in  this  kind  ot  work  the  younger  writer  became  a  favourite 
of  the  first  order.  Personally  Wilkie  was  entirely  with- 
out ambition  to  take  a  place  in  the  competition  of  society, 
and  avoided  plans  of  life  which  necessitated  the  making 
up  of  his  mind  enough  to  forecast  the  future.  In  this 
respect  he  left  all  to  circumstance  ;  but  although  a 
generous  spender  at  all  times,  he  was  prudent  with  money 
affairs.  No  one  could  be  more  jolly  than  he  as  the  lord 
of  the  feast  in  his  own  house,  where  the  dinner  was  pre- 
pared by  a  chef,  the  wines  plentiful,  and  the  cigars  of 
choicest  brand.  The  talk  became  rollicking  and  the  most 
sedate  joined  in  the  hilarity  ;  laughter  long  and  loud 
crossed  from  opposite  ends  of  the  room  and  all  went 
home  brimful  of  good  stories.  When  you  made  a  chance 
call  in  the  day,  he  would  look  at  you  through  his 
spectacles,  getting  up  from  his  chair  to  greet  you  with 
warm  welcome.  He  would  sit  down  again,  his  two 
hands  stretched  forward  inside  the  front  of  his  knees, 
rocking  himself  backwards  and  forwards,  asking  with  deep 
concern  where  you  came  from  last.  If  he  saw  your  eyes 
wandering,  he  would  burst  out  :  "  Ah  !  you  might  well 
admire  that  masterpiece  ;  it  was  done  by  that  great  painter 
Wilkie  Collins,  and  it  put  him  so  completely  at  the  head 
of  landscape  painters  that  he  determined  to  retire  from 
the  profession  in  compassion  for  the  rest.  The  Royal 
Academy  were  so  affected  by  its  supreme  excellence  and 
its  capacity  to  teach,  that  they  carefully  avoided  putting  it 
where  taller  people  in  front  might  obscure  the  view,  but 
instead  placed  it  high  up,  that  all  the  world  could  without 
difficulty  survey  it.  Admire,  I  beg  you,  sir,  the  way  in 
which  those  colours  stand  ;  no  cracking  in  that  chef- 
({ ' iruvre,  and  no  tones  ever  fail.  Admire  the  brilliancy  of 
that  lake  reflecting  the  azure  sky;  well,  sir,  the  painter  of 
that  picture  has  no  petty  jealousies,  that  unrivalled  tone 


vii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      187 

was  compounded  simply  with  Prussian  blue  and  flake 
white,  it  was  put  on  you  say  by  a  master  hand,  yes  but 
it  will  show  what  simple  materials  in  such  a  hand  will 
achieve.  I  wish  all  masterpieces  had  defied  time  so 
triumphantly." 

There  was  a  portrait  of  his  mother  by  Mrs.  Carpenter, 
her  sister,  which  represented  her  in  youth  and  girl-like 
beauty,  and  it  reminded  me  how  she  had  said  that  when 
young,  at  an  evening  party  Samuel  Taylor  Coleridge  had 
singled  her  out  and  had  talked  with  her  for  twenty 
minutes  in  the  highest  strains  of  poetical  philosophy,  of 
which  she  understood  not  a  word,  nothing  but  that  it 
flowed  out  of  the  mouth  of  a  man  with  two  large  brilliant 
blue  eyes.  She  wondered  why  he  should  have  chosen  to  talk 
to  her.  The  unpretending  portrait  explained  the  riddle. 

Wilkie's  room  was  hung  with  studies  by  his  father, 
and  beautiful  coast  scenes  of  the  neighbourhood  of  the 

^  O 

Bay  of  Naples. 

"  But  tell  me,  Holman,"  he  said  once,  "  what  are  you 
going  to  do  with  this  wonderfully  elaborate  work  of  yours 
begun  in  Jerusalem  ?  You  must  take  care  and  get  a 
thundering  big  price  for  it  or  you  will  be  left  a  beggar  "  ; 
I  replied,  "  The  truth  is,  my  dear  Wilkie,  I  am  rather 
getting  reconciled  to  the  prospect  looming  before  me 
that  I  shall  not  sell  it  at  all,  for  no  price  such  as  those 
which  picture  buyers  are  accustomed  to  give,  ^icoo  or 
£1500  at  the  most,  would  put  me  into  a  position  to 
recommence  on  another  Eastern  design,  and  I  have  no 
inclination  to  work  to  enrich  picture  dealers  and  publishers 
alone.  I  have  many  reasons  to  think  that  the  public 
will  be  really  interested  in  it,  although  the  canvas  is  not  a 
large  one  ;  I  wish  it  were  three  times  as  big,  it  would  have 
cost  me  less  labour  ;  I  am  told  it  will  make  an  attractive 
and  remunerative  exhibition,  and  this  will  persuade  some 
publisher  to  buy  the  copyright.  I  have  no  doubt  that  it 
will  help  my  position  as  an  artist,  and  bring  purchasers 
for  my  other  works.  I  shall  soon  pay  outstanding  claims, 
and  have  this  picture  to  the  good,  yet  I  don't  want  to 


1 88         PRK-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

waste  my  time  on  business,  and  I  should  be  very  glad  to 
find  some  dealer  to  take  it  off  my  hands." 

"Now,"  he  demanded,  "what  would  really  pay  you 
fairly,  as  a  professional  man  ?  ' 

"  Nothing  less,  I  assure  you,  than  5500  guineas — a 
price  that  has  never  been  given  in  England  for  a  modern 
picture,"  I  said. 

"  Well,  you  ought  to  be  able  to  get  that  ;  have  you 
any  nibbles  r  " 

"  Yes,  nibbles  of  small  fry  but  no  bites  ;  private  people 
have  asked  me  to  let  them  have  the  first  refusal  of  it. 
They  certainly  expect  that  I  shall  ask  a  handsome  price  ; 
I  shall  not  tell  them  till  it  is  practically  finished,  and  then 
I  know  they  will  be  scared  off  and  give  it  up,  and  only 
one  will  remain — Gambart,  the  dealer,  who  is  prepared  to 
go  farther  than  the  others,  but  ruled  by  the  usual 
standard  he  will  shy  at  my  figures." 

"  I  will  tell  you  what  you  should  do,"  he  suggested, 
"  Dickens  is  not  only  a  man  of  genius,  he  is  a  good 
business  man  ;  you  go  to  him  and  ask  him  to  tell  you 
whether  you  could  not  make  the  terms  so  that,  keeping 
to  your  price,  you  will  still  get  what  you  want  from 
the  dealer.  Gambart  is  a  sharp  man,  but  being  sharp, 
he  knows  better  than  to  lose  your  picture,  but  you  must 
give  him  the  offer  in  a  practicable  way,  and  Dickens  will 
tell  you  how  to  do  this." 

"  But,  my  dear  Wilkie,  although  Mrs.  Dickens 
was  kind  enough  to  ask  me  to  her  house  to  see  your 
*  Frozen  Deep '  acted,  and  though  when  I  have  met 
Dickens  he  has  been  civil  and  pleasant,  I  have  no  reason 
to  think  that  he  has  any  kind  of  sympathy  for  my 
art,  and  accordingly  I  could  not  expect  him  to  like  being 
appealed  to  in  this  matter." 

"  Don't  you.  have  any  such  thought.  I  will  speak  to 
Dickens,  and  you  will  see  he  will  be  very  glad  to  help 
you,"  rejoined  my  eager  friend. 

Shortly  afterwards  Dickens  asked  me  to  come  and  see 
him  in  Tavistock  Square.  He  was  then  forty-eight  years 


vii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      189 

of  age.  By  his  early  portraits  he  had  appeared  to  be  a 
good-looking  beau  of  the  last  Georgian  days,  and  the 
portrait  painters  had  seized  little  that  bespoke  firmness 
under  a  light  and  cheerful  exterior  ;  but  in  these 
later  days  all  the  bones  of  his  face  showed,  giving  it  truly 
statuesque  dignity,  and  every  line  on  his  brow  and  face 
were  the  records  of  past  struggle  and  of  present  power  to 
paint  humanity  in  its  numberless  phases.  It  was  a  poor 
criticism  of  him,  current  at  this  time,  that  he  would  never 
in  the  future  write  anything  equal  to  Pickwiik. 

He  received  me  with  a  pleasant  welcome,  and  after  a 
few  friendly  words  added,  "  I  am  glad  you  are  exact — we 
will  proceed  to  business  at  once.  How  many  years  have 
you  had  this  picture  of  yours  in  hand  ? " 

"  Six,  with  many  intervals  on  smaller  \vorks,  executed 
to  brino;  grist  to  the  mill,"  said  I. 

"  Will  you  tell  me  how  long  a  time  you  employed  on 
it  in  Jerusalem  ?  " 

1  did  my  best  to  explain. 

"  Your  journey  and  stay  there  cost  you  a  good  deal  of 
money  ?  " 

I  entered  into  the  facts. 

"  Now  you  have  got  the  picture  nearly  finished  r  ' 

"  1  may  complete  it  in  good  time  for  the  next  Exhibi- 
tion season." 

"  What  will  be  the  sources  of  revenue  for  your  dealer, 
should  he  buy  it?  " 

"  He  will  be  able  to  exhibit  it  at  a  shilling  a  head  in 
his  gallery  in  London  ;  we  may  average  as  much  as  ^20 
or  £2°  a  day,  taken  at  the  door.  The  rent  at  the  best 
season  is  of  course  heavy,  and  he  has  a  canvasser  paid 
partly  on  results,  and  a  toll-keeper.  I  should  calculate 
that  a  fifth  of  the  revenue  should  suffice  for  this.  The 
canvasser  will  take  the  names  of  all  people  willing  to  sub- 
scribe for  the  plate  ;  the  impressions  will  bring  ^3,  ^5, 
and_£8  each.  He  will  have  to  pay  the  engraver,  say  £800 
or  so,  for  his  work,  and  then  there  will  be  the  cost  of 
printing  and  distribution.  When  this  had  been  done  he 


190         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

would  get  further  income  by  the  sale  of  the  picture  itself. 
There  will,  however,  be  the  doubt  whether  the  public  will 
look  with  favour  on  the  work,  which  may  offend.  As  far 
as  I  can  judge  in  my  own  studio,  however,  there  is  no 
prospect  of  this,  but  distinctly  the  contrary.  Mr.  Gam- 
bart  frequently  points  out  that  I  must  not  consider  that 
this  picture  will  fetch  a  price  that  would  be  a  commen- 
surate payment  for  my  time  ;  he  tells  me  that  I  shall  have 
to  make  a  sacrifice  for  this,  and  be  satisfied  with  the 
greater  reputation  it  will  give  me,  and  make  my  profit  on 
other  works." 

Dickens  smiled  ironically  and  said,  "Yes,  we  inspired 
workers  for  the  public  entertainment  ought  to  think  of 
nothing  so  much  as  the  duty  of  putting  money  into 
publishers'  pockets,  but  we  are  a  low-minded  set,  and  we 
want  a  part  of  this  filthy  lucre  for  ourselves,  for  our  land- 
lords and  our  tradesmen,  who  most  unfeelingly  send  us 
in  bills  as  though  we  did  nothing  for  their  pleasure." 

I  went  on,  "  To  venture  the  business  myself  would 
perhaps  be  the  fairest  for  all,  in  that  case  the  loss  or  gain 
would  fall  on  me  alone,  but  then  a  business  man  has 
opportunities  for  carrying  on  such  enterprises  which  the 
artist  has  not,  and  a  painter  wastes  his  life  in  it." 

Dickens  then  said,  "You  say  you  want  5500  guineas 
—you  ought  to  have  it,  and  I  decide  that  a  business  man 
can  afford  to  give  it  to  you,  and  your  business  man  I  feel 
pretty  sure  will  give  it  to  you,  but  you  must  consider  that 
he  will  not  get  his  return  immediately,  and  you  must  give 
him  time  ;  let  him  pay  you  ^1500  down,  another  ^1000 
in  six  months,  and  the  other  sums  at  periods  extending 
over  two  and  a  half  or  three  years.  You  will  find  he  will 
not  throw  away  the  chance,  but  do  not  let  it  drag  along, 
tell  him  that  you  want  to  be  free  to  make  other  plans." 

I  was  much  touched  by  his  full  attention,  and  thanked 
him  most  sincerely.  In  one  respect  I  missed  an  oppor- 
tunity from  false  pride  on  my  part  and  timid  reading  of 
his  nature.  I  ought  to  have  said,  "Now,  will  you  do  me 
the  further  honour  of  coming  as  far  as  Kensington  to  see 


vii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      191 

this  painting  of  mine,"  but  I  let  the  door  shut  without 
saying  this,  and  I  never  had  again  the  opportunity  of 
learning  how  far  we  differed  or  agreed  in  the  purpose  I 
was  carrying  out  in  this  picture,  of  attempting  to  realise 
the  actual  history  of  the  divine  Man. 

The  Duchess  of  Argyll,  who  was  my  neighbour  in 
Kensington,  had  in  the  most  agreeable  manner,  two  years 
before,  called  upon  me,  and  taken  a  genuine  interest  in 
my  work,  and  other  persons  of  the  great  world  asked  to 
see  it.  Certainly  the  reputation  of  the  picture  had  grown. 

When  it  was  so  far  advanced  that  it  needed  only 
deliberate  judgment  for  the  last  balancing  and  ripening 
tones  and  touches,  Mr.  Mulready  came  and  made  kind 
comments  upon  the  work,  and  later  the  President  of  the 
Academy  and  Lady  Eastlake  did  me  the  same  honour  ; 
it  would  not  have  been  possible  for  them  to  have  been 
more  complimentary  and  kind  than  they  were,  and  in 
the  end  Sir  Charles  paused,  saying,  "  It  has  been  said 
that  you  are  resolved  not  to  exhibit  the  picture,  and  I  feel 
impelled  to  explain  that  in  my  mind  it  would  be  very 
wrong  were  you  not  to  do  so."  I  was  astonished,  for  I  had 
never  had  such  intention  as  that  which  Rossetti  acted  upon 
in  showing  his  pictures  only  in  his  own  studio,  and  I 
frankly  repudiated  the  construction  of  future  intention, 
arising,  probably,  from  my  enforced  abstention  from  public 
exhibition  for  the  last  three  years.  The  President  expressed 
his  approbation  of  my  reply,  adding  most  unexpectedly, 
"  I  am  able  to  assure  you  that  the  picture  shall  have  a 
post  of  honour,  and  that  it  shall  be  placed  with  a  rail  in 
front,  such  as  Mr.  PYith's  '  Derby  Day  '  had,  to  protect  it 
from  the  press  of  people."  It  was  only  then  that  I  under- 
stood how  I  was  responsible  for  the  rumour  he  had  heard, 
and  I  felt  pained  in  giving  my  explanation,  dreading  the 
suspicion  that  I  gloried  in  uttering  it  vindictively.  It  was, 
that  with  a  picture  which  had  cost  me  so  much,  I  must 
look  to  the  special  exhibition  of  it  as  one  chance  of 
remuneration,  and  that  I  could  not,  therefore,  send  it  to 
the  Academy  and  lose  what  should  be  an  important  part 


1 92      PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE     CHAP. 

of  the  property  to  me.  He  accepted  my  explanation 
most  courteously. 

Meanwhile  my  energetic  dealer,  Mr.  Gambart,  was 
impatient  to  know  on  what  terms  I  would  sell  it  to 
him,  but  I  would  not  reveal  this  until  the  end. 

After,  according  to  my  promise,  offering  the  refusal  to 
the  other  private  collectors  who  had  asked  for  it,  I  told 
Gambart  that  I  was  ready  to  treat  with  him.  "  Now,"  he 
said,  "  you  will  tell  me  your  price,  but  I  hope  you  will 
come  and  dine  with  me,  and  we  will  talk  it  over  after 
dinner."  When  I  came  up  to  the  fire  after  the  ladies  had 
gone,  pouring  out  another  glass  of  wine,  he  said,  "Now 
then  for  this  secret  of  yours.  What  is  your  price?  " 

I  stated  it. 

"  Oh,  but  it  is  impossible,  no  one  ever  heard  of  such  a 
sum." 

"  I  quite  admit  that,"  was  my  reply.  "  You  are  called 
upon  only  to  consider  whether  you  can  afford  it." 

"  It  is  quite  impossible,"  said  he,  "  but  you  must  take 
less." 

"  I  won't  abate  a  farthing,"  I  said.  "  Now  let  me 
understand,  shall  I  conclude  that  you  give  it  up  ?" 

He  waited  and  then  said,  "  You  must  take  time  to 
consider." 

My  reply  was,  "  I  am  called  very  obstinate  by  my 
companions,  perhaps  they  are  right  ;  whether  or  no,  you 
must  not  expect  me  to  take  anything  less  than  I  have  said." 

"  Well,"  he  said  then,  "  leave  it  open  for  a  week." 

My  response  was,  "The  Exhibition  season  is  nigh." 

"  Yes,"  he  returned,  "  and  I  shall  have  to  make  up  my 
mind  soon  that  I  may  calculate  how  much  money  I  have 
to  spend  on  pictures  going  to  the  Academy." 

In  the  end  I  gave  him  three  or  four  days,  and  this  led 
to  his  acceptance  of  my  terms.  To  finish  a  long  task  and 
send  it  forth  to  the  world  is  a  greater  lightening  of  the 
heart  than  many  men  apprehend.  In  this  case  there  was 
a  very  magnified  sense  ot  relief. 

The  picture  was  ready  towards  the  middle  of  April, 


vii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      193 

and  ere  the  last  touches  were  dry,  private  view  cards  had 
been  sent  out  for  an  early  date  ;  Gambart  had  stipulated 
that  I  should  be  present  ;  the  attendance  was  extremely 
large  and  there  seemed  to  be  every  prospect  of  an 
enthusiastic  recognition  of  the  work,  yet  the  signing  of 
our  agreement  had  been  deferred. 

Millais  came  with  me  to  the  gallery  on  the  morning  of 
the  first  public  day  ;  it  was  early,  and  we  were  alone,  my 
friend  was  full  of  generous  recognition  without  limit,  and 
said  of  "  The  Temple  "  picture  (when  seen  for  the  first  time 
in  its  frame  designed  by  myself  with  ivory  flat,  in  what 
I  meant  to  be  semi-barbaric  splendour)  that  the  work 
looked  "  like  a  jewel  in  a  gorgeous  setting." 

The  hour  had  come  for  the  public  to  arrive,  and  still 
we  were  tne  only  persons  present  ;  as  we  wondered,  a 
timid  lady  presented  herself  at  the  half-opened  door, 
with  apologetic  mien,  she  inquired  where  she  should  find 
the  picture  which  she  had  been  told  was  on  exhibition 
there,  and  we  asked  her  in.  Very  few  others  came,  and 
it  turned  out  that  the  business  people  had  put  no  notices 
at  the  door,  and  not  a  single  newspaper  had  a  line  of 
advertisement  to  inform  the  public.  This  I  corrected 
promptly,  and  the  visitors  began  to  arrive  in  numbers 
of  eight  hundred  to  a  thousand  a  day. 

One  morning  the  attendant  recognised  as  the  Prince 
Consort  a  gentleman  who  was  leaving  the  gallery  after 
trying  in  vain  to  see  the  picture.  He  approached  His 
Royal  Highness,  and  asked  to  be  allowed  to  send  it  to 
Windsor  for  the  inspection  of  the  Queen.  The  Prince 
expressed  his  pleasure  at  the  proposal,  and  accordingly, 
to  my  surprise,  when  I  arrived  in  the  evening,  the 
announcement  was  on  the  door  that  my  picture  was 
removed  by  command,  after  which  it  came  back  with  a 
gracious  message  of  appreciation. 

Gambart  employed  Signor  Morelli  to  make  a  drawing 
of  the  picture  in  black  and  white  for  the  use  of  his 
engraver,  and  it  was  a  wondrously  exact  and  elaborate 
transcript  of  the  original.  To  make  the  tracing  for  him, 

VOL.    II  O 


i94         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

which  I  could  not  leave  to  other  hands,  I  often  was  at  the 
gallery  at  half-past  five  in  the  morning. 

Disburdened  of  all  my  anxiety  in  launching  my  picture, 
one  day  I  went  earlier  than  usual  for  the  full  gathering  of 
the  Cosmopolitan  Club.  Thackeray  and  an  intimate  friend 
alone  were  there  ;  as  I  approached  the  great  man,  he 
ejaculated,  "  God  bless  my  living  soul  !  here  we  are  in  the 
presence  of  the  happiest  man  of  the  day.  I  hope  that  what 
I  hear  is  true  that  you  have  sold  a  picture  for  5  5  oo  guineas  ? ' ' 

"  It  is  true,  I'm  glad  to  say,  that  I  have  now  signed  an 
agreement  with  Gambart,"  I  returned. 

"  Now,  you  are  still  a  young  man,"  he  continued, 
"  and  to  have  got  so  handsome  a  sum  for  one  picture, 
and  that  I  hear  not  a  large  one,  is  a  truly  wonderful  piece 
of  good  fortune,  and  I  congratulate  you  heartily  ;  you  have 
cause  to  be  jubilant." 

"  But,"  I  said,  "  I  must  not  allow  you  to  assume  that  I 
have  suddenly  become  a  wealthy  adventurer  ;  I  began  the 
work  years  ago,  and  to  do  it  I  had  to  risk  not  only  my 
little  store  of  worldly  goods  in  going  to  the  place,  but 
also  all  the  chances  of  success  which  I  had  gained  before 
leaving  England,  and  in  truth  the  difficulties  I  had  to 
overcome  cost  me  so  much,  that  ten  or  twelve  paintings 
might  have  been  done  in  the  time.  I  am  sure  that  I 
understate  the  case  when  I  say  that  other  men  of  my  age 
have  been  saving  more  than  I  shall  get  at  the  best,  even 
when  this  business  is  finished." 

"  But,"  urged  Thackeray,  "  I  thought  it  was  finished." 

I  explained  that  I  had  yet  received  only  a  goodly 
earnest  of  the  money,  that  I  had  to  pay  some  heavy  debts 
connected  with  the  picture,  while  still  the  outstanding 
balance  was  withheld.  "  Painting  subject  pictures,"  I 
said,  "  is  an  expensive  profession,  and  after  my  experience 
of  going  to  the  East  on  a  small  capital,  I  feel  obliged  to 
postpone  returning  there  for  further  work  until  I  have  a 
little  money  invested  to  bring  me  in  an  income  that  will 
save  me  from  daily  fear  that  my  means  will  be  absorbed 
before  my  canvas  has  been  turned  into  a  picture." 


vii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      195 

Thackeray  thereupon  rejoined,  "  But  you  are  a  single 
man,  and  have  but  few  expenses." 

"  I  am  only  a  poor  bachelor,"  I  confessed,  "  but  a  man 
who  does  work  which  the  public  are  pleased  to  take 
interest  in,  ought  to  be  paid  so  that  he  can  at  thirty-three 
have  the  choice  of  marrying,  and  if,  as  many  other  men 
have,  I  have  family  claims  upon  me,  that  is  not  the  world's 
affair,  and  it  has  no  right  to  refuse  him  the  just  reward, 
such  as  if  married  he  must  claim." 

"  Ha-ha,  ha,  then  you  know  what  it  is  to  have  claims 
upon  your  harvestings  before  they  are  gathered  in  perhaps, 
and  I  daresay  you  know  something  of  other  than  blood 
relations  who  say  'Give,  give,  give,  but  count  not  me  the 
herd  ' — the  thought  of  them  makes  me  wince." 

"Yes,"  I  laughed,  "we  know  who  are  always  ready 
to  prove  that  you  should,  considering  your  unvarying 
good  luck  in  comparison  to  theirs,  let  them  have  more 
and  more." 

"  Yes,  I  know  them  all,"  he  said,  "  with  their  constant 
remindings  of  your  '  lucky  star,'  and  that  they  were  not 
born  with  your  golden  spoon,  and  how  everything  has  been 
against  them.  Well,  well,"  he  said  with  a  half-amused 
sigh,  "  they  are  a  dispensation  of  Providence  by  which  we 
are  brought  to  reflect  upon  poor  human  nature,  but  then 
5500  guineas  at  thirty-three,  that  is  a  good  turning  point 
in  a  man's  fortune  ;  I  remember  when  I  was  about  the 

same  age  I   had  been  writing  for  some  months  for , 

and  the  magazine  had,  in  consequence  of  my  contributions, 
been  restored  from  a  state  near  collapse  to  increasing 
stability  ;  at  that  juncture  my  wife  fell  ill,  and  the  doctors 
assured  me  that  she  must  be  taken  for  a  month  to  the  sea- 
side. I  had  no  funds  for  this,  and  thinking  it  not 
unreasonable,  I  wrote  to  the  editor  :  '  Dear  sir,  I  am 
in  severe  need  of  ready  money,  I  shall  be  sending  the 
usual  copy  for  the  end  of  the  month,  could  you  oblige  me 
by  advancing  me  ^20  on  the  forthcoming  contribution  to 
your  magazine,  and  thus  greatly  oblige,  W.  M.  T.' 

"  The  reply  was  prompt,  it  was  to  the  effect  that  the 


196         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

editor  had  made  a  rule  never  to  pre-pay  his  writers,  and  that 
he  was  obliged  to  adhere  to  his  regulation.  You  needn't, 
my  dear  fellow,  be  any  longer  thus  driven  from  pillar  to 
post  to  get  such  a  sum,  and  I  am  sincerely  glad  of  it.  Ah 
me  !  "  he  sighed,  getting  up,  and  left  me  with  our  common 
friend,  going  to  the  opposite  end  of  the  room,  while  I 
followed  his  lordly  back  till  he  became  lost  in  a  posse 
of  newcomers.  In  a  few  minutes  Thackeray  returned, 
saying,  "  But  you  are,  after  all,  a  lucky  dog,  for  you 
have  something  more  than  a  miserable  remnant  or  salvage 
of  a  life  in  which  to  do  your  work." 

It  seemed,  with  his  stalwart  and  manly  frame  before 
me,  and  with  the  knowledge  of  his  daring  independence 
of  mind,  an  empty  gibe  at  his  additional  years  of  life,  but, 
alas  !  it  was  only  three  Christmas  eves  after  this  that  I 
looked  back  upon  this  remark  as  a  premonition  that  he 
felt  the  uncertainty  of  life  more  than  he  was  disposed 
to  admit.  People  often  repeat  that  at  heart  he  was  a 
snob,  and  that  he  had  admitted  this  himself.  In  the  society 
of  the  club  where  we  met  he  would  have  been  sure  to 
show  this,  had  it  been  true,  and  I  never  saw  any  signs 
of  the  weakness.  This  assumption  from  his  own  words 
is  like  the  conclusion  that  Keats  was  a  dwarf,  derived  from 
his  remark,  "  But  who  will  care  for  the  opinions  of  John 
Keats,  five  feet  high  ?  " 

When  I  tendered  the  three  hundred  pounds  advanced 
to  me  by  Mr.  Combe,  he  exclaimed,  "  No,  I  don't  need 
it,  but  you  have  interested  us  in  your  friend  Woolner, 
and  we  should  like  to  tide  him  over  his  low-water 
difficulties.  Go  to  him,  and  say  I  hope  he  will  receive 
the  sum  from  me,  and  that  he  will  keep  it  as  long 
as  he  likes  "  ;  and  he  added,  "  It  does  not  matter  if  he 
never  gives  it  back,  the  amount  will  have  been  twice  well 
used,  and  if  in  this  case  it  brings  success,  as  in  yours,  I 
shall  be  better  pleased  for  his  sake." 

This  kindness  enabled  me  to  introduce  the  sculptor  to 
my  Oxford  friends,  and  the  increase  of  his  circle  at  the 
University  helped  him  as  much  as  the  money  did.  About 


vii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      197 

this  time  he  finished  a  statue  of  Lord  Bacon  for  the 
Oxford  Museum. 

Once,  when  I  had  gone  to  the  Exhibition  gallery  of 
my  picture  to  meet  Gambart,  I  found  Dyce  there  ;  he 
was  generously  appreciative  of  the  work,  but  objected  that 
it  was  "  three  pictures  in  one."  Another  artist  of  older 
standing  was,  however,  not  so  approving  of  the  treat- 
ment, but  declared  that  the  painting  was  nothing  less 
than  blasphemous,  seeing  "  it  was  only  a  representation  of 
a  parcel  of  modern  Turks  in  a  cafe." 

The  Times  did  not  print  a  line  of  notice  of  the 
picture.  Tom  Taylor,  its  critic,  told  Millais  he  had 
written  a  notice,  but  the  editor  would  not  insert  it.  If 
this  was  in  the  flippant  spirit  of  his  comments  on  "  The 
Light  of  the  World  "  it  could  well  be  spared.  The 
attendance  at  the  gallery  proved  the  interest  that  the  im- 
partial public  took  in  my  effort. 

Meeting  Dickens  at  a  party  in  the  full  swing  of  the 
season,  I  was  greeted  by  him  with,  "  You  have  caused  my 
hatter  to  be  madder  than  ever.  He  declares  that  you 
have  choked  up  Bond  Street  with  the  carriages  for  your 
exhibition,  so  that  none  of  his  established  customers  can 
get  to  his  shop." 

Gambart  asked  me  to  write  a  short  pamphlet  on  the 
story  and  object  of  Pre-Raphaelitism,  to  be  sold  in  the 
gallery,  to  add  to  his  profits.  I  objected  that  I  could 
not  undertake  this,  because  there  had  been  others  actively 
bound  up  in  the  effort  to  bring  about  a  purgation  of  art, 
each  working  on  somewhat  different  lines,  and  that  any 
such  utterance  of  my  own  might  appear  as  savouring  of 
egoism.  He  next  urged  that  I  should  write  a  memoir  of 
myself.  I  declined  on  the  ground  that  people  should  not 
regard  an  artist  as  a  public  character,  except  in  his  works, 
and  I  had  a  settled  repugnance  to  obtrude  the  privacy  of 
life  behind  the  scenes,  and  argued  that  there  was  every 
reason  for  him  to  be  satisfied  with  his  success  without 
any  addition  from  extraneous  excitement.  He  would  not, 
however,  be  beaten  back  for  more  than  a  few  days,  and 


198  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.VII 

he  came,  saying,  "  I  have  been  thinking  that  you  can't 
refuse  to  let  your  friend  Stephens  write  the  pamphlet  on 
your  Jife,  and  I  would  pay  him  thirty  pounds  for  doing 
it."  I  had  to  yield,  and  in  a  few  days  the  pamphlet  was 
issued  and  sold  in  the  room.  Stephens  was  still  dear  to 
me  as  my  old  comrade  and  my  friend. 


CHAPTER    VIII 

1860-1861,  1862 

For  there  can  be  no  state  of  life,  amidst  public  or  private  affairs, 
abroad  or  at  home — whether  you  transact  anything  with  yourself  or 
contract  anything  with  another — that  is  without  its  obligations.  In 
the  due  discharge  of  that  consists  all  the  dignity,  and  in  its  neglect  all 
the  disgrace  of  life. — CICERO. 

Whatever  is  good  is  also  beautiful  in  regard  to  purposes  for  which 
it  is  well  adapted,  and  whatever  is  bad  is  the  reverse  of  beautiful  in 
regard  to  purposes  for  which  it  is  ill-adapted. — XENOPHON. 

SHORTLY  after  my  exhibition  had  opened  I  received  an 
invitation  from  Mrs.  Gladstone  to  attend  a  breakfast  in 
Carlton  House  Terrace.  I  found  many  old  friends 
were  present  ;  but  the  last  arrival  was  the  Rev.  Joseph 
Wolff,  who  had  recently  returned  from  a  mission  to 
Bokhara. 

When  we  sat  down  he  was  interrogated  about  his 
experiences  at  the  Amir's  Court,  and  what  he  reported 
may  probably  be  read  in  his  book  ;  but  the  noticeable 
character  of  his  narrative  was  the  Oriental  and  antiquated 
phraseology  he  used  :— 

"  And  accordingly  the  King  arose  and  spoke  aloud. 
4  Oh,  Traveller,  wherefore  art  thou  come  ?  Declare  unto 
us  thy  mission,  and  make  known  unto  us  the  desire  of  the 
great  Queen  who  sent  thee.' 

"  And  I  spoke,  '  The  great  ruler  in  the  Isles  of  the 
Sea  desires  to  send  unto  thee  salutations  of  friendship  and 
recognition  of  the  grandeur  of  thy  sceptre,  and  to  beseech 

199 


200         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

that  thou  shouldst  give  thy  kingly  attention  to  the  hard- 
ships and  the  cruelty  which  Colonel  Stoddart  and  Captain 
Conolly,  my  subjects,  have  suffered  in  the  regions  belong- 
ing to  thee,  and  I  am  commanded  to  demand  of  thee  what 
has  befallen  these  two  brave  and  pious  officers  of  Her 
Majesty,  the  Queen  of  the  Sea.'  '  The  story  was  re- 
counted in  loud  and  sonorous  voice  in  notes  that  rang 
without  pause,  as  though  the  words  had  been  read  from 
a  book,  the  cleanly-cut  face  of  our  host,  almost  Dantesque 
in  the  compression  of  features,  being  riveted  on  the 
speaker  the  while,  all  other  guests  forbearing  talk  to 
listen.  When  the  quaintly  told  story  was  ended,  Mrs. 
Gladstone  referred  with  great  indignation  to  the  report 
that  Lord  Palmerston  had  headed  the  subscription  in 
Parliament  to  recognise  the  courageous  endurance  of 
Tom  Sayers,  the  pugilistic  champion  of  England,  he 
being  a  man  of  five  feet  eight  and  a  half  inches  in 
height,  who,  with  his  right  arm  broken  at  the  beginning 
of  the  contest  with  Heenan,  a  handsome  American 
of  six  feet  two  inches,  had  continued  the  struggle 
with  his  left  hand  only.  Mrs.  Gladstone  was  horrified 
at  the  brutality,  and  at  its  approval  by  statesmen  of 
eminent  position,  and  appealed  to  the  table  to  support 
her  in  denunciation,  saying,  "  I  am  sure,  William,  you  did 
not  subscribe."  The  great  statesman  replied  with  serious 
gesture,  '  Indeed  I  did  not." 

Amid  the  company  the  lady  perhaps  noticed  that  I 
was  more  reserved  in  my  endorsements  of  her  sentiments 
than  some  others,  and  I  was  challenged  to  declare  my 
views.  I  could  only  say  that  while  I  regarded  pugilism 
as  savage,  I  did  so  with  regret  that  violence  in  one  form 
or  another  could  not  be  eliminated  from  rude  states  of 
society,  and  that  pugilism  was  regarded  by  me  as  less 
objectionable  than  the  means  resorted  to  amongst  people 
whose  custom  it  was  not,  for  settling  quarrels  without 
use  of  murderous  weapons.  Unless  there  were  some  men, 
like  prize-fighters,  who  perfected  boxing  into  a  science, 
there  would  not  be  that  degree  of  proficiency  which 


vin     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      201 

English  boys  acquire  at  school,  which  stands  them  in 
ready  stead  in  travelling  and  colonizing,  when  bar- 
barous natives  think  they  may  with  impunity  attack  a 
stranger.  This  was  a  dreadful  confession  of  faith,  which 
I  could  see  shocked  Mrs.  Gladstone  profoundly  ;  and 
the  recounting  of  tragedies  in  the  use  of  knife  or  pistol 
by  travellers  on  occasion  of  threatening,  together  with 
the  existing  system  of  blood  revenge,  did  not  alter 
her  judgment  on  the  subject.  When  we  rose  from 
the  table  I  took  the  opportunity  to  look  at  a  painting 
of  a  female  head  by  Dyce,  which  I  had  seen  in 
the  Exhibition  a  few  years  before.  Mr.  Gladstone 
accompanied  me,  saying,  "  I  indeed  feel  ashamed  of 
possessing  that  picture  ;  I  saw  it  in  the  Academy  Exhibi- 
tion, and  admiring  it  exceedingly,  inquired  the  price  ; 
finding  that  it  was  only  .£37  I  purchased  it  ;  but 
since  then  Dyce's  reputation  has  so  justly  grown  that  I 
increasingly  feel  how  very  inadequate  the  payment  was." 
To  this  he  added  many  expressions  of  admiration  of 
Dyce's  genius.  He  then  paused  with  me  before  a  large 
Spanish  picture  representing  a  saint,  who,  desiring  to 
evangelise  a  distant  country,  and  having  no  ship,  had 
thrown  down  his  cloak  on  the  surface  of  the  water,  and 
stepping  upon  it,  had  voyaged  over  the  Mediter- 
ranean to  the  land  which  he  subsequently  converted.1 
With  pleasant  talk  we  reached  the  door,  where  I  stood 
apologising  for  having  taken  up  so  much  of  his  precious 
time,  but  he  insisted  upon  accompanying  me  to  the  hall. 
I  remembered  Lord  Stair's  obedience  to  Louis  XIV. 
when  charged  to  ascend  the  carriage  before  him,  and 
proceeded  through  the  antechamber.  Passing  a  sideboard 
with  choice  specimens  of  Dresden  and  Sevre  china,  I 
observed,  "  I  may  judge  that  you  take  a  special  interest 
in  this  German  and  French  porcelain  ;  in  my  small  way  I 
commit  extravagances  only  with  Oriental  china."  He 
asked,  "  And  why  do  you  prefer  Oriental  ware,  Mr. 
Holman  Hunt  ? " 

1   Supposed  to  be  St.  James  the  Apostle. 


202         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

"  I  must  admit  that  Sevre  and  Dresden  porcelain 
cause  me  pain  in  their  elaborate  determination  to  defy  the 
fundamental  principles  of  sound  design,"  I  said. 

"  But  how  do  they  do  that  ? "  he  inquired. 

"  By  disregard  of  the  fitness  of  things." 

"  In  what  way  does  '  fitness  '  enter  into  the  question  r" 
he  asked. 

"  It  is  not  my  personal  theory  I  am  propounding,  it  is 
often  spoken  of  now  as  '  Ruskin's  principle,'  "  1  said;  "but 
in  fact  many  before  him  tacitly  or  openly  declared  it. 
Socrates,  as  an  artist,  where  he  lays  it  down  that  beauty 
depends  upon  fitness,  and  .all  true  artists  have  recognised  the 
law."  Seeing  him  hesitate,  I  said,  "  Allow  me  to  explain," 
and  I  took  up  a  cup.  "  This  is  a  vessel  out  of  which  a 
man  drinks,  and  it  should  give  an  undisturbed  impres- 
sion as  to  its  purpose,  but  when  the  cup  is  in  our  hands, 
observing  it  on  the  outside,  we  see  a  picture  of  linear  and 
aerial  perspective,  with  full  light  and  shade  of  distant 
mountains,  of  a  great  plain  with  trees  and  a  platform  of 
steps  in  the  foreground  ;  we  turn  it  forward,  and  under 
the  teacup  there  is  a  distant  bay,  a  ruined  temple, 
a  fountain  close  at  hand,  with  statues,  and  cavaliers  and 
dames  dancing  about.  Our  mind  is  in  a  state  of  discord 
to  reconcile  opposite  impressions,  one  impression  being 
that  this  is  a  half-globe  to  hold  the  liquid  that  is  within 
it,  the  other  being  that  of  distances  and  buildings,  on 
concave  or  convex  surfaces,  which  could  only  be  rightly 
depicted  and  intelligibly  understood  when  seen  on  a  flat 
surface  ;  the  cup  and  the  pictures  are  perfectly  incongru- 
ous, and  elegant  manipulation  is  misplaced." 

"But,"  said  he,  "Oriental  porcelain  sometimes  has  repre- 
sentations of  objects  and  landscape  painted  on  its  surfaces." 

"  It  is  true,"  I  said,  "  but  these  are  not  portrayed  with 
the  aid  of  elaborate  perspective  and  light  and  shade. 
The  objects  are  represented  as  ornaments,  controlled  by 
design  fit  for  the  nature  of  the  thing  in  use." 

"  You  surprise  and  interest  me,"  he  said  ;  "  it  is  a 
question  to  work  out,  and  I  sincerely  thank  you." 


vin     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      203 

In  moving  on  to  the  door  I  reminded  him  not  to 
assume  that  I  claimed  any  originality  in  laying  down  this 
principle,  and  so  I  took  my  leave,  much  impressed  by 
the  humility  of  this  leader  of  men. 

I  was  still  not  my  own  master,  and  could  not  there- 
fore yet  return  to  the  East.  Having  long  been  engaged 
on  works  of  scale  below  life-size,  it  seemed  wise  now  to 
take  up  the  painting  of  figures  of  full  proportions. 
Through  the  kindness  of  friends  a  young  lady  sat  to  me, 
and  I  commenced  a  picture  which  I  afterwards  called 
"  II  dolce  far  niente." l  I  made  use  of  the  Egyptian 
chairs,  which,  having  been  borrowed  and  painted  by  other 
artists,  were  no  longer  attractive  to  me  for  Oriental 
subjects.  I  was  glad  of  the  opportunity  of  exercising 
myself  in  work  which  had  not  any  didactic  purpose. 
The  picture,  however,  had  to  be  laid  by  for  the  time,  and 
finished  at  a  later  period  from  another  model.  I  then 
devoted  myself  to  designing  the  full-length  picture  of 
"The  Afterglow"  on  a  small  canvas." 

Mr.  and  Mrs.  Tom  Hughes  had  become  my  valued 
friends,  and  when  a  "  Cosmopolitan  "  gathering  was  to  take 
place  they  often  asked  me  to  meet  a  pleasant  company  at 
dinner  on  my  way  to  the  club. 

Little  Holland  House  was  still  exercising  its  fascina- 
tions on  the  London  world  ;  but  its  lord  was  declining  in 
health  and  years,  and  its  gaiety  was  much  impaired  in  the 
eyes  of  those  who  remembered  its  brighter  days. 

In  the  autumn  of  1860  Tennyson,  Palgrave,  Woolner, 
Val  Prinsep,  and  I  undertook  a  walking  tour  through 
Cornwall  and  Devon.  As  Woolner  could  not  stay  more 
than  the  first  week,  and  Prinsep  and  I  could  not  start  till  a 
day  or  two  after  the  rest,  they  had  begun  their  walk  on 
the  north  coast,  visiting  Tintagel,  reaching  Land's  End, 
and  had  gone  over  to  the  Scilly  Isles  ere  we  arrived  at 
Penzance.  We  learnt  their  whereabouts,  and  followed 

1    In   the   possession   of  Thomas   Brorklehank,   Esq.,  J.P.,    Allerton    Hall, 
Liverpool. 

-  Now  in  the  Combe  Collection,  Oxford. 


204 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


in    the    packet-boat    to    St.    Mary's    Island,    where    we 
found    our   friends  at  an    inn.      Woolner  there   took   his 


jr.  //.  //. 


IL     DOLCE    FAR    NIENTE. 


leave  of  the  company.      Inchbold  had  been  found  painting 
at  the  old  Arthurian  castle,  and  Tennyson's  account  of  the 


vin     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      205 

mysterious  place  whetted  my  desire  to  go  there,  but  this 
thought  had  to  be  relinquished  ;  and  after  a  day  spent  in 
visiting  the  gardens  of  the  Scilly  Isles  we  returned  to 
Penzance.  During  the  intercourse  of  this  journey  we  were 
much  engaged  in  discussions  on  the  character  of  English 
poetry  of  all  periods.  Palgrave  was  a  man  of  solid 
culture,  and  was  engaged  at  the  time  on  his  unrivalled 
forthcoming  selection  The  Golden  Treasury.  While  Burns 
was  under  review,  his  poem  To  Mary  in  Heaven  was 
excluded  from  the  selection,  Tennyson  agreeing  that  the 
refrain  of  "  Hear'st  thou  the  groans  that  rend  this  breast?" 
had  the  ring  of  hysterical  insincerity  and  bombast  in  it, 
a  rare  fault  in  that  simple  poet.  The  judgments  on  the 
verses  offering  themselves  for  consideration  were  finally 
resolved  upon  after  dinner,  when  pipes  and  a  "  pint  of 
port "  ripened  the  humour  of  the  company.  Palgrave 
refers  in  his  enthusiastically  graceful  acknowledgment  in 
the  dedication  to  his  volume  to  the  advice  and  assistance  he 
had  gained  from  the  great  poet  in  these  critical  investiga- 
tions ;  they  were  at  times  continued  throughout  the  day, 
at  times  on  the  heights  of  a  cliff  or  on  the  shore  below, 
while  we  painters  were  loitering  over  notes  of  features 
of  the  scene  which  fascinated  us.  We  could  watch 
Tennyson  in  his  slouch  hat,  his  rusty  black  suit,  and 
his  clinging  coat,  wandering  away  among  rocks,  assidu- 
ously attended  by  our  literary  friend,  and  if  by  chance 
the  poet  escaped  his  eyes  for  a  minute,  the  voice 
of  Palgrave  was  heard  above  the  sea  and  the  wind 
calling  "  Tennyson,  Tennyson,"  while  he  darted  about 
here  and  there  till  he  again  held  the  arm  of  the  errant 
comrade.  It  had  been  understood  from  the  beginning 
that  Tennyson's  incognito  should  be  preserved,  as  the 
only  means  of  escaping  bores  or  burrs  who  might  spoil 
all  our  holiday,  so  the  devotion  of  Palgrave  evidently 
arose  from  consideration  of  the  danger  that  might  overtake 
Tennyson  owing  to  his  extreme  short-sightedness.  The 
poet,  who  was  singularly  unpresuming  on  his  world-wide 
glory  and  his  twenty  or  thirty  years'  seniority  over  anv 


206  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.VIII 

of  the  party,  perseveringly  besought  us  not  to  use  his 
surname  in  addressing  him  or  speaking  of  him  in  the 
hotels.  When  this  was  forgotten  by  any  one  of  us  he 
remonstrated,  "  Why  do  you  always  use  my  name  ?  You 
must  understand  the  danger  of  some  one  noting  it,  and 
instituting  inquiries  which  would  result  in  discovery,  and 
then  we  should  be  mobbed  out  of  the  place." 

"  Oh  ! "  laughed  Palgrave,  who  was  singularly  perti- 
nacious in  the  habit  he  had  adopted,  "  that  is  absurd.  You 
think  no  one  has  any  notion  in  his  head  but  the  question, 
'  Where  is  Alfred  Tennyson,  Poet  Laureate  ? '  whereas  not 
one  in  a  hundred  we  meet  has  ever  heard  your  name." 

The  poet  returned,  "  But  that  one  would  tell  the 
others." 

"  Not  at  all,"  said  our  friend  ;  "  there  are  many  people 
of  the  name  besides  yourself." 

"  Well,  I  have  known  the  consequences  before,  and 
I  wish  you  would  avoid  calling  me  by  name,"  said 
Tennyson. 

I  think  it  was  on  account  of  the  poet's  appre- 
hension of  discovery  that  our  stay  at  Land's  End  was 
shortened. 

Tennyson's  custom  at  that  time  was  to  take  a  vehicle 
from  stage  to  stage,  for  he  had  hurt  his  foot.  Palgrave 
ordered  a  dog-cart,  and  drove  with  him.  Val  and  I 
walked.  Val  Prinsep  was  a  burly  but  handsome  young 
athlete,  with  breadth  of  shoulders  and  girth  of  limb  that 
made  him  the  admiration  of  Cornishmen,  who  by  their 
wrestling  bouts  looked  upon  strangers  as  their  forefathers 
did  upon  any  new  knights  appearing  in  the  jousting  field. 
Our  meetings  with  passers-by  and  with  countrymen  at 
the  bars  of  inns,  which  at  mid-day  we  entered  for  refresh- 
ments, engaged  us  in  merry  talk  and  badinage. 

We  joined  our  two  friends  at  Helston,  where  they  had 
chosen  a  comfortable  hotel,  and  Palgrave  took  all  the 
trouble  upon  himself  of  ordering  supplies  for  the  party. 
To  the  landlord  he  said  with  emphasis,  "  Above  all  things 
be  particular  about  the  old  gentleman's  port  at  dinner,  for 


208         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

the  old  gentleman's  very  fastidious  about  his  wine.  We 
others  would  not  care  about  it,  but  he  would  be  seriously 
displeased  if  the  port  were  not  quite  up  to  the  mark." 

"  Do  you  mean  me  by  the  old  gentleman  ?  "  said  Tenny- 
son, looking  round  as  he  was  unwinding  his  large  cloak 
from  his  broad  shoulders. 

u  Of  course  I  do,"  Palgrave  replied,  and,  turning  to 
the  landlord  once  more,  he  added,  "  You'll  be  particular, 
won't  you,  on  account  of  the  old  gentleman  ?  " 

The  landlord  had  scarcely  shut  the  door  when  Tenny- 
son, with  face  more  perplexed  than  angry,  said  patiently, 
"  What  do  you  mean  by  calling  me  the  old  gentleman  ?  " 

"  Why,  what  are  we  to  call  you?"  pleaded  the  other. 
"  You  won't  let  us  call  you  by  your  name,  you  persuade 
yourself  that  the  whole  country  would  rise  up  if  they 
heard  that  magical  word,  and  so  I'm  obliged  to  call  you 
the  old  gentleman.  Besides,  you  know  you  are  the  old 
gentleman,  and  every  one  will  at  once  know  who  is  meant." 

"  You  might  find  some  other  appellation,  I  think," 
suggested  the  poet,  but  he  did  not  pursue  the  complaint 
further  at  the  time. 

The  next  day  Val  and  I  went  out  to  sketch.  In  the 
evening  we  told  the  others  of  a  poor  old  woman  who  had 
come  while  we  were  at  work,  saying  that  she  had  a  black 
paper  profile  of  a  sailor  son  who  had  been  away  years,  and 
she  had  long  ceased  to  receive  tidings  from  him.  "  What 
consoles  me  now,"  said  the  loving  old  soul,  "is  that  every 
day  more  that  he's  away  must  be  a  day  nearer  to  his  return." 
Her  business  with  us  was  to  ask  whether  we  were  not 
in  the  same  line  as  the  profilist  who  did  the  silhouette, 
and  if  so,  whether  we  could  not  undertake  the  restoration 
of  the  portrait,  which  she  was  grieved  to  find  had  lost 
some  of  the  features  by  reason  of  the  black  paper  coming 
unglued  and  falling  off.  She  added  that  it  had  been  an 
excellent  resemblance,  and  she  had  left  it  at  home,  but  if  we 
would  come  and  see  it  and  state  our  price,  she  should,  if 
she  could  afford  it,  be  glad  to  bear  the  expense.  We 
had  asked  the  address  and  meant  to  find  it  out  in  the 


vin     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      209 

morning.  Tennyson  urged  us  to  give  what  attention  we 
could  to  the  lonely  mother,  and  matters  were  progressing 
happily  as  we  smoked  the  calumet  of  peace,  until  the  land- 
lord appeared  to  take  final  orders,  then  our  scholarly 
caterer  repeated  his  references  to  "  the  old  gentleman." 
The  poet  was  startled  from  his  restored  tranquillity  at 
each  repetition  of  the  obnoxious  epithet,  and  immediately 
the  landlord  closed  the  door  Tennyson,  with  a  show  of 
suppressed  wrath,  renewed  his  complaint.  With  an 
eloquence  that  would  have  done  credit  to  an  academic 
wrangler,  Palgrave  justified  his  position  in  successive  stages  : 
first  of  all,  Tennyson  must  be  called  something  ;  the  natural 
mode  of  addressing  him  would  undoubtedly  be  by  his 
proper  name,  but  then  this  was  objected  to,  for  what  all 
rational  people  would  consider  quite  inadequate  reason, 
and  so  it  had  to  be  given  up.  Almost  every  other  name 
would  be  objected  to.  "  Mr.  Alfred,"  or  "  our  old  friend," 
for  instance,  would  not  do,  nor  "  the  elderly  gentleman  " 
either.  "  No,  on  the  whole,  '  the  old  gentleman  '  is,  I  am 
sure,  quite  the  best  term,"  he  said.  "  Notwithstanding 
your  black  cloak  and  your  mysterious  secrecy,  the  folk 
won't  really  interpret  it  as  meaning  his  Satanic  Majesty," 
and  here  he  laughed  heartily. 

Tennyson  asked  us  whether  we  did  not  think  he  had 
a  right  to  object,  and  we  agreed,  but  the  argument 
persisted  until  the  business  of  the  further  journey  was 
mooted,  and  a  resolution  was  come  to  that  we  should 
start  next  morning.  A  gig  was  accordingly  ordered, 
and  on  the  morrow  after  breakfast  it  was  at  the  door 
ready  for  the  two  non-walkers.  Prmsep  and  I  had 
counted  upon  having  another  day  to  complete  drawings 
already  begun,  but  we  decided  not  to  stay  behind  our 
friends.  When  we  had  seen  them  depart,  after  some 
inquiries,  made  altogether  in  vain,  for  the  whereabouts 
of  the  old  mother  of  the  lost  sailor,  we  started  for  the 
appointed  place  of  meeting  at  the  Lizard.  When  we 
arrived  at  the  little  hostel,  dinner  had  been  ordered  for 
tour  ;  our  friends  were  away  at  the  coast,  and  we  could 

VOL.    II  P 


210         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

not  stray  far  from  the  inn  for  fear  of  missing  them. 
There  were  two  coaches,  which  belonged  to  a  party 
come  from  Falmouth,  unhorsed,  waiting  in  front  of  the 
inn.  The  company  were  returning  from  the  coast  in  little 
groups,  and  were  taking  their  places  on  the  vehicles  while 
the  animals  were  brought  out  and  harnessed.  It  was  a 
pleasant  scene  in  the  evening  light,  and  we  were  idly 
gazing,  when  suddenly  I  was  recognised  and  saluted  by 
one  of  the  ladies,  the  graceful  and  pretty  Miss  Stirling, 
and  her  sister,  the  nieces  of  the  Rev.  F.  D.  Maurice. 
They  said  they  had  been  down  at  the  coast  all  day,  which 
made  me  ask  if  they  had  seen  the  two  other  members  of 
our  party  there.  The  reply  was  "  Yes,  we  met  them  in 
coming  up  the  cliff."  In  guarded  undertone  I  said,  "  Then 
I  hope  you  understood  from  Tennyson  that  he  wished  his 
presence  here  to  be  kept  strictly  secret  ?  "  "  Tennyson  !  " 
exclaimed  they,  the  ladies  next  them  joining  in  with 
delighted  surprise.  "  We  were  not  close  enough  to 
recognise  him."  I  saw  by  the  commotion  created  among 
all  the  company  that  I  had  unwittingly  done  more  mischief 
than  Palgrave  had  yet  brought  about.  I  implored  all  to 
be  cautious,  adding  that  the  poet  would  never  forgive  me. 
Other  ladies  asked  that  I  should  introduce  him  to  them 
when  we  arrived  at  Falmouth  ;  and  when  I  renewed  my 
regret  at  the  blunder  I  had  committed,  they  playfully  said 
they  were  extremely  glad,  and  all  entreated  me  to  beg 
Tennyson  to  come  to  the  Misses  Fox  when  we  left  the  Lizard. 
At  our  meal  that  night,  with  converse  smooth  and 
delightful,  although  sometimes  ending  in  wrangling, 
Tennyson  asked  whether  we  had  visited  the  old  woman 
at  Helston  to  see  whether  we  could  not  repair  the 
black  profile  of  her  boy's  portrait.  I  explained  that  her 
account  of  its  condition  had  given  us  but  little  hope  of 
repairing  the  damage,  and  that  we  had  failed  in  the 
attempt  to  find  her  house.  I  felt  how  reasonable  seemed 
his  reproaches  to  us,  repeated  as  they  were  in  kindly  tone, 
but  without  stint,  over  the  wine  and  pipes.  That  night 
happily  ended  without  any  serious  contention  between 


vni     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     211 

the  men  of  letters  ere  we  wended  our  way  to  bed.  The 
next  day  we  were  all  down  on  the  white  shore  admiring 
the  purple  marble  rock  polished  and  made  lustrous  by  the 
sea  washing  it  in  calm  and  storm.  Each  of  us  found  his 
own  particular  object  of  interest  apart  from  those  which 
appealed  equally  to  all.  Perhaps  it  was  the  peaceful 
noise  made  by  the  laughing  waters,  or  the  bellowing 
of  the  cave-entrapped  wave,  that  made  Palgrave  less 
mindful  than  his  wont,  and  again  he  was  heard  calling  out 
the  Laureate's  name  whenever  for  a  moment  he  had 
escaped  observation. 

Prinsep  and  I  each  began  a  drawing  of  Asparagus 
Island,  and  as  we  settled  to  work,  Tennyson  proved  how, 
despite  his  short-sightedness,  he  had  acquired  the  know- 
ledge of  details  found  in  his  poems. 

THE  EAGLE 

He  clasps  the  crag  with  hooked  hands  ; 
Close  to  the  sun  in  lonely  lands, 
Ring'd  with  the  azure  world,  he  stands. 

The  wrinkled  sea  beneath  him  crawls  ; 
He  watches  from  his  mountain  walls, 
And  like  a  thunderbolt  he  falls. 

He  was  not  satisfied  with  the  first  casual  impression 
made  by  a  new  experience  ;  he  went  about  from  point 
to  point  of  his  first  observations,  and  conferred  over  each 
impression  with  his  companions.  We  painters  had  placed 
ourselves  upon  a  tongue  of  clifF  which  divided  a  large 
bight  into  two  smaller  bays  ;  thence  we  could,  to  right 
and  left,  see  down  to  the  emerald  waves  breaking  with 
foam  white  as  snow  on  to  the  porphyry  rocks.  Our 
seats  were  approached  by  a  shelving  saddle  of  a  kind  that 
required  keen  sight  and  firm  feet  to  tread.  The  poet 
had  made  up  his  mind  to  look  down  into  the  gulf, 
and  we  had  to  find  an  abutting  crag  over  which  he 
could  lean  and  survey  the  scene.  In  the  original  sense  of 
the  word,  he  was  truly  nervous,  but  looked  steadily  and 


212         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

scrutinisingly.  The  gulls  and  choughs  were  whirling  about 
to  the  tune  of  their  music,  with  the  pulsing  sea  acting  as 
bass,  and  it  was  difficult  for  eye  or  ear  to  decide  whether 
the  sound  or  the  sight  were  most  delightful.  Tennyson, 
when  led  away  to  a  broader  and  safer  standpoint,  said,  "  I 
could  have  stayed  there  all  day."  He  sat  and  talked  for  a 
time,  then  strolled  away  with  Palgrave  out  of  our  sight  and 
hearing.  That  night  after  dinner  the  conversation  began 
again  about  the  English  classics,  and  while  it  lasted  there  was 
little  said  that  was  not  of  inexhaustible  interest,  for  Palgrave, 
as  his  books  show,  was  an  ardent  appreciator  of  high  thought 
and  polished  scholarship;  but  in  time  the  divergent  note  was 
struck.  "You're  always  losing  your  temper,"  said  Palgrave. 

"  I  should  be  sorry  to  do  that,  unless  the  reason  were  a 
very  weighty  one,"  said  Tennyson. 

"Surely,"  said  Palgrave,  "you  must  see  that  you've  been 
offended  with  the  most  inadequate  cause  ever  since  our  start. 
I  appeal  to  the  others,"  and  after  referring  to  the  objection 
of  the  poet  to  the  use  of  his  name  and  the  alternative 
epithets,  he  made  it  his  text  that  Tennyson  had  complained 
to  me  about  the  revelation  of  his  name  to  the  Misses 
Stirling. 

I  at  once  said  Tennyson  was  quite  right  on  this  point, 
that  I  had  been  foolish  in  making  the  blunder,  and  that 
the  alertness  of  the  ladies  had  proved  how  well  founded 
was  his  dread  of  being  lionised. 

The  poet,  taking  up  his  candlestick,  said,  "  Each  must 
do  as  he  thinks  best,  but  I  have  no  doubt  what  to  do. 
There  is  no  pleasure  for  any  of  us  in  this  wrangling,  and 
I  shall  to-morrow  go  on  to  Falmouth  and  take  the  train 
home." 

"There  now,"  said  Palgrave  as  Tennyson  was  at  the 
door,  "  you're  always  most  unreasonable  ;  if  things  that  you 
have  a  whim  for  are  not  absolutely  yielded,  no  one  else  is 
to  have  a  voice  in  the  matter."  When  the  poet  had  gone, 
Palgrave  said  to  us,  "  You've  no  idea  of  the  perpetual 
worry  he  causes  me." 

Val  ejaculated,  "  Did  you  say  that  he  caused  you  ?  " 


vin     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      213 

"  Yes,"  he  returned.  "  The  last  words  that  Mrs. 
Tennyson  said  to  me  on  leaving  were  that  I  must  promise 
her  faithfully  that  I  would  never  on  any  account  let 
Tennyson  out  of  my  sight  for  a  minute,  because  with  his 
short-sight,  in  the  neighbourhood  of  the  cliffs  or  on  the 
beach  of  the  sea,  he  might  be  in  the  greatest  danger  if  left 
alone.  I'm  ever  thinking  of  my  promise,  and  he  con- 
tinually trying  to  elude  me  ;  if  I  turn  my  head  one 
minute,  on  looking  back  I  find  him  gone,  and  when  I  call 
out  for  him  he  studiously  avoids  answering." 

"  But  you  call  him  by  his  name  ?  "  we  pleaded  for  the 
poet. 

"  Of  course  I  do,  for  I  find  that  his  fear  of  being 
discovered  gives  me  the  best  chance  of  making  him  avow 
himself." 

Gradually  Palgrave  gathered  that  our  sympathy  for 
him  was  limited,  and  then  he  took  his  candle  and  went 
off  to  bed.  Val  and  I,  when  quietly  talking  together 
afterwards  over  the  dispute,  had  our  attention  arrested 
by  creaking  steps  on  the  stairs,  the  door  was  quietly 
opened  and  Tennyson  appeared  in  his  slippers.  Putting 
his  candle  down  and  taking  a  chair,  he  spread  both  his 
hands  out  afar  on  the  table  and  said,  "  I've  come  down  to 
say  to  you  young  fellows  that  I'm  very  sorry  if  I  seem 
to  be  the  cause  of  all  the  bickerings  that  go  on  between 
Palgrave  and  myself.  It  is  I  know  calculated  to  spoil 
your  holiday,  and  that  would  be  a  great  shame.  I  don't 
mean  to  quarrel  with  any  one,  but  all  day  long  I  am 
trying  to  get  a  quiet  moment  for  reflection  about  things. 
Sometimes  I  want  to  compose  a  stanza  or  two,  and  find  a 
quiet  nook  where  I  may  wind  off  my  words,  but  ere  I 
have  completed  a  couplet  I  hear  Palgrave's  voice  like  a 
bee  in  a  bottle  making  the  neighbourhood  resound  with 

O  O 

my  name,  and  I  have  to  give  myself  up  to  escape  the 
consequences."  We  explained  that  all  this  arose  from 
Palgrave's  desire  to  keep  him  from  danger,  for  he  felt 
responsible.  "  Oh,  I  know  he  means  very  well,"  said 
Tennyson,  "  but  it  worries  me,  and  I  am  going  away 


2i4         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

to-morrow  morning,  but  I  hope  you  all  will  stay  and  enjoy 
yourselves." 

The  next  morning  before  we  had  finished  breakfast  a 
dog-cart  stood  before  the  window,  and  the  landlord  came 
in  to  say  that  the  trap  was  ready  for  the  luggage.  Palgrave 
cut  short  the  speaker,  deciding  that  it  was  not  for  our 
party,  but  the  Laureate  interposed  with  the  explanation 
that  he  had  ordered  it,  and  he  held  to  his  determination 
to  go  to  Falmouth  at  once. 

When  he  had  already  got  up  into  the  dog-cart, 
and  Palgrave  found  that  further  remonstrance  would  be 
in  vain,  he  darted  back  into  the  inn,  entreating  his  friend 
to  wait  a  minute.  It  was  fully  ten  minutes  ere  he 
reappeared,  preceded  by  his  luggage,  and  then  jumped 
up  beside  Tennyson,  greatly  to  the  poet's  surprise.  He 
protested,  but  the  remonstrance  was  met  by  Palgrave 
appealing  to  us  to  come  too,  and  declaring  that  he  was 
under  promise  to  Mrs.  Tennyson  never  to  leave  him  on 
the  journey,  and  as  the  pair  were  driven  away  we  heard 
the  two  arguing  as  to  whether  such  watchfulness  were 
necessary. 

Palgrave,  it  was  evident,  had  counted  upon  our 
departure,  for  on  the  walls  of  the  inn  where  John  Smith 
of  Exmoor  and  Henry  Muggins  of  Battersea  had,  with 
an  equally  distinguished  multitude,  set  their  autographs, 
he  had  at  the  last  moment  neatly  described  a  cartouch  in 
which  figured  our  four  names,  headed  by  that  of  the  poet, 
and  it  or  a  duplicate  will  be  found  there  to  this  day. 

For  two  or  three  days  Val  and  I  remained  working  on 
the  cliffs.  My  drawing  was  on  a  block,  of  which  the  sun 
had  gradually  drawn  up  one  corner ;  this  warped  surface  did 
not  seriously  interfere  with  my  progress  until  one  day  a 
sudden  gust  of  wind  compelled  me  to  put  my  hand  on 
brushes  in  danger  of  going  to  perdition,  when,  turning 
round  on  my  saddle  seat,  I  saw  my  nearly  completed 
picture  circling  about  among  the  gulls  in  the  abyss  below. 
Luckily,  a  fresh  gust  of  wind  bore  it  aloft,  until  the 
paper  was  caught  by  a  tuft  of  grass  at  the  brink  of  the 


vin     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     215 

precipice.  It  proved  to  be  within  reach  of  my  umbrella, 
which  fixed  it  on  the  spot  until  with  the  help  of  my  friend, 
I  was  able  to  rescue  the  flighty  thing  for  completion. 

We,  in  our  turn,  went  on  to  Falmouth,  and  learned 
from  the  Misses  Fox  that  Tennyson  and  his  friend  had 
been  with  them  for  more  than  a  day,  and  had  been  very 
happy  until  a  notice  of  the  poet's  presence  in  a  local  paper 
startled  him  to  take  train  direct  to  the  Isle  of  Wight. 
We  enjoyed  the  hospitality  of  this  family  for  a  few  days 
before  our  return  home  by  Salisbury  and  Stonehenge. 
Val  Prinsep  commenced  his  Exhibition  career  at  the  R.A. 
two  years  later,  and  attracted  annual  attention,  particularly 
well  merited  in  the  year  1865  with  his  painting  of 
"  The  Hiding-Place  of  Jane  Shore." 

Gad's  Hill  must  have  been  known  to  Shakespeare,  who 
certainly  travelled  to  and  on  the  sea,  like  many  English- 
men in  his  days  who  had  the  Vikings'  passion  for 
wandering. 

He  was  dear  to  Dickens,  and  perhaps  the  singling  out 
of  this  outlying  suburb  of  Rochester  by  Shakespeare  had 
as  much  to  do  with  Dickens's  choice  of  it  for  a  home  as 
his  early  family  associations  had.  Once,  falling  into  a 
talk  with  him  about  the  great  dramatist,  I  asked  which 
of  all  the  passages  in  Shakespeare  entranced  him  most. 
"  Ah !  "  he  said,  "  that's  an  embarrassing  question  to 
answer,  for  I  love  passionately  so  many  ;  one  comes 
to  mind  in  Henry  IV.,  of  Justice  Shallow  in  his 
house  and  orchard,  talking  to  his  man  Davy  about 
the  management  of  his  several  acres,  and  Davy's 
appeal  to  his  master  to  take  up  his  rascally  friend's  cause, 
saying  at  last,  '  I  grant,  your  worship,  that  he  is  a 
knave,  sir.  ...  I  have  served  your  worship  truly,  sir, 
these  eight  years  ;  if  I  cannot  once  or  twice  in  a  quarter 
bear  out  a  knave  against  an  honest  man,  I  have  but  very 
little  credit  with  your  worship.'  Then  the  arrival  of 
FalstarF  to  enrol  the  men  of  the  new  conscription,  and  at 
last  the  scene  in  Shallow's  garden,  with  Justice  Slender 


2i6         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

added  to  the  party,  and  Falstaff  returning  from  the 
Northern  wars.  As  I  read  I  can  see  the  soft  evening  sky 
beneath  the  calm  twilight  air,  and  I  can  smell  the  steaming 
pippins  as  they  are  brought  on  to  the  table,  and  when  I 
have  ended  my  reading  I  remember  all  as  if  I  had  been 
present,  and  heard  FalstafF  and  the  whole  company 
receiving  the  news  of  the  King's  death." 

It  was  a  pleasure  to  all  his  friends  to  hear  that  Charles 
Collins  was  engaged  to  Miss  Kate  Dickens.  I  was 
invited  to  the  wedding  at  Gad's  Hill,  where  many 
good  friends  were  present.  When  at  school  I  used  to 
hear  the  name  of  "  Boz  "  in  connection  with  the  Pickwick 
Papers,  and  the  two  words  met  my  eyes  as  inseparable 
on  all  the  advertising  boards  of  the  circulating  libraries 
until  the  name  of  Nicholas  Nickleby  superseded  the  earlier 
announcement.  What  an  unrealisable  dream  it  would 
have  seemed  to  me  then,  had  it  been  forecast,  that  I 
should  be  a  guest  at  this  magical  writer's  table  on  one  of 
the  most  personal  and  sacred  events  of  his  life.  He  was 
not  yet  advanced  in  years,  but  rich  in  laurels  and  still 
multiplying  them,  with  a  name  honoured  around  the  world, 
and  a  distinction  coveted  without  envy.  Yet  he  revealed 
a  certain  sadness  during  the  feast,  and  this  it  was  that 
induced  him,  when  Forster  rose  up  to  make  a  speech,  to 
command  him  not  to  proceed. 

It  was  a  lovely  day,  and  when  the  ladies  left  the  room 
and  we  stood  up,  no  more  graceful  leader  of  a  wedding  band 
could  have  been  seen  than  the  new  bride.  I  was  near  the 
father,  and  found  myself  opposite  and  close  to  a  small 
picture  of  the  Sphinx  by  Roberts  ;  it  had  probably  been 
given  by  the  painter  to  the  author.  In  turning  I  bent  my 
head  towards  it  ;  Dickens  suddenly  said,  "You  will  not 
find  anything  in  that  picture  to  suit  your  particular  taste, 
but  /  admire  it." 

I  replied,  "  It  interests  me  particularly,  because  I  lived 
next-door  neighbour  to  the  Sphinx  for  several  months." 

"  And  what  do  you  find  fault  with  in  it?  "   he  asked. 

"I  had   not   any  intention  of  finding  fault  with  it,"  I 


vin     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     217 

said  ;  "  and  if  Roberts  had  never  been  to  Egypt,  and  had 
painted  it  only  as  a  poetic  conception,  I  should  have  had 
no  perplexity  about  it." 

"  What  are  you  perplexed  at  now  ?  " 

"  Well,  that  he  should  have  put  the  orb  of  the  setting 
or  the  rising  sun  immediately  behind  the  profile  of  the 
Sphinx  does  puzzle  me." 

Dickens  abruptly  said,  "  I  admire  it  in  that  respect." 

"  But  surely  you  do  not  mean  that  licence  should  go  so 
far  in  a  topographical  picture  as  to  justify  a  painter  in 
making  the  sun  set  in  the  full  south  ?  " 

"  But  I  do  not  see  why  he  should  not  if  he  thinks  it 
aids  the  effect." 

"  But,"  I  urged,  "  consider  that  the  whole  idea  COn- 
CS          ' 

nected  with  this  '  Watchful  One  '  may  be  that  it  is  lifting 
up  its  head  to  look  always  towards  the  rising  sun  for  that 
Great  Day  in  which  the  reign  of  absolute  righteousness 
and  happiness  shall  come,  so  that  the  sun  strikes  on  its  brow 
each  morning  and  sends  a  shadow  towards  the  west  along 
the  great  plain  ;  and  as  the  sun  advances  to  the  west  a 
shade  closes  over  the  face  like  sleep.  To  put  the  sun 
against  the  profile  is  therefore  a  very  unaccountable 
liberty,  because  it  is  destructive  of  the  cardinal  idea." 

"•  Ah  !  well,  I  had  not  thought  of  that  ;  that  certainly 
makes  a  difference  ;  but  I  admire  it  as  a  poetical  conception 
all  the  same,"  he  persisted. 

"  I  hope  you  will  believe  that  my  critical  feeling  does 
not  blind  me  to  its  merits,"  I  replied,  and  so  it  ended. 

He  was  in  no  such  overstrained  mood  whenever  I  met 
him  again.  He  had  the  habit  of  walking  about  ten  miles 
each  day  as  a  constitutional ;  sometimes  I  encountered  him 
and  walked  with  him,  enjoying  his  brilliant  humour. 

After  the  wedding  breakfast  it  was  my  fortune  to  drive 
out  about  Rochester  with  dear  old  Mrs.  Collins  and  John 
Forster.  It  was  a  favourable  time  for  talking  with  this 
healthy-minded  writer,  and  I  enjoyed  a  long  debate  with 
him  on  literary  responsibility  and  the  false  influence  of 
what  is  called  poetic  justice  in  a  plot.  Douglas  Jerrold, 


218         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

with  his  caustic  wit,  had  summed  up  Forster's  appear- 
ance with  the  stigma  that  he  was  "  the  Bumbeadle  of 
Creation  "  ;  and  indeed,  till  he  talked,  you  might  have 
thought  the  epithet  somewhat  justifiable,  but  his  large 
reason  soon  gave  dignity  to  his  otherwise  over-comfort- 
able aspect. 

About  this  year,  1861,  Rossetti  persuaded  Morris  to 
use  the  promising  artistic  power  he  had  shown  as  a  subject 
painter  to  take  up  decorative  design.  Having  capital  in 
hand,  this  energetic  man  of  genius  and  of  good  business 
capacity  incorporated  Brown,  Rossetti,  Burne-Jones,  and 
others,  founding  a  firm  which,  after  some  eccentric  experi- 
ments, developed  not  only  into  a  commercial  enterprise,  but 
into  a  school  of  taste  which  it  is  not  too  much  to  say 
went  far,  and  ought  to  be  still  moving  forward,  to  re- 
establish the  best  form  of  artistic  invention  for  English 
crafts. 

The  archaic  spirit  of  Gothic  times  which  inspired  this 
offshoot  from  P.R.B.-ism  was  undoubtedly  a  recom- 
mendation to  the  approval  of  contemporary  connoisseurs, 
for  ancient  authority  has  ever  been  what  dilettantism 
loves  as  orthodoxy  in  art  ;  perhaps  even  in  the  attain- 
ment of  artistic  success  it  was  of  good  augury,  for  the 
field  to  traverse  was  limited,  and  the  men  whom  Rossetti 
had  enlisted,  being  late  in  application  to  art,  could  attain 
their  ambition  more  speedily  than  had  the  region  before 
them  been  of  untried  boundless  extent. 

Throughout  the  period  I  am  writing  of,  young 
artists  of  ability  were  from  time  to  time  appearing. 
Henry  Holiday  applied  his  artistic  taste  and  training  to 
the  designing  and  execution  of  stained- glass  windows. 
Edward  Poynter  began  to  attract  the  attention  of  the 
Exhibition  world  in  1861,  and  rapidly  year  by  year 
advanced  in  power.  In  1865  his  admirable  painting, 
"  Faithful  unto  Death,"  appeared,  making  a  strong 
impression  among  thoughtful  people,  and  establishing 
his  claims  to  high  consideration.  I  was  so  far  affected 
by  its  excellence  that  I  advised  several  friends  to  buy  it, 


vin     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     219 

and  when  they  would  not,  I  was  seriously  tempted  to 
become  its  possessor,  but  some  richer  amateur  anticipated 
me. 

My  picture  of  the  Temple  came  nigh  to  destruction 
within  a  year  of  its  exhibition.  A  canopy  had  been 
erected  to  prevent  the  dresses  of  the  spectators  from 
reflecting  into  the  glass  of  the  painting  ;  in  the  dark 
days  of  winter  a  row  of  gas  lights  was  placed  close 
above  this.  One  freezing  morning  some  of  the  com- 
pany remarked  upon  the  excessive  heat  of  the  room, 
and  while  attention  was  being  given  to  the  question  the 
whole  of  the  large  curtain  fell  down  in  flames.  The 
crowd  escaped  into  the  next  room,  the  flames  were  spread- 
ing fast,  and  only  one  pail  of  unfrozen  water  could  be 
obtained.  In  this  emergency  a  lady  took  ofF  a  valuable 
Indian  shawl  and  threw  it  to  the  man  to  extinguish  the 
fire,  which  was  happily  overcome,  the  picture  only  being 
damaged  in  a  way  that  could  be  remedied,  so  that  in  a 
week  or  so  it  was  returned  to  the  Exhibition  with 
no  mark  of  the  injury  remaining.  The  lady,  although 
advertised  for  by  the  proprietor,  never  came  forward 
to  receive  compensation  from  the  Insurance  Company  for 
the  destruction  of  her  shawl  by  the  gracious  act  she  per- 
formed. Years  later  I  heard  that  she  was  the  wife  of 
Sir  Walter  Trevelyan. 

My  friend,  Mr.  Vernon  Lushington,  at  this  time 
invited  me  to  paint  the  full-size  portrait  of  his  father, 
the  Rt.  Hon.  Stephen  Lushington  ;  therefore  I  stayed 
with  the  family  at  Ockham  to  paint  it.  Sitting  down 
to  my  first  dinner  in  the  house,  one  of  the  sons  asked 
me  what  line  I  took  on  the  question  of  the  war  between 
North  and  South  in  America. 

%'  I  had  better  confess  at  once  that  I  am  on  the 
unpopular  side,  I  must  avow  that  all  the  arguments  I 
hear  for  the  Southern  cause  have  no  weight  with  me," 
I  said. 

"  Well  done  !  "  he  exclaimed,  "  we  are  all  Northerners 
here." 


220 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 


Scarcely  any  circle  I   had  met  up  to  then  had  received 
my  confession  of  faith  on  this  question  so  harmoniously. 
I  felt  it  was  wise  to  make  a  study  in  chalk  of  the  very 


THK     RIT.HT     HON.     STKI'HF.N     LUSHIXGTOX. 

interesting  head  of  the  great  Judge  before  beginning  the 
portrait  in  oil.  The  old  gentleman  was  stirred  up  to 
extraordinary  vivacity  when  in  conversation,  and  the 
expression  thus  aroused  was  that  best  known  to  his 


vin     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     221 

friends.  When  silent,  his  visage  settled  into  a  mask, 
almost  grim  ;  but  the  fact  that  this  aspect  was  unknown 
to  society  made  me  feel  it  must  be  avoided,  the  difficulty 
was  that  in  the  mobility  of  his  features  it  was  almost 
impossible  to  find  any  phase  between  the  two  extremes 
that  could  give  the  interest  of  the  charming  old  Judge's 
character.  When  he  saw  that  his  listener  was  absorbed 
in  his  stories,  he  poured  out  a  succession  of  wonderful 
memories,  reaching  back  to  before  the  last  decade  of 
the  preceding  century  ;  he  was  then  eighty-two  years 
of  age.  He  told  how  he  had  once,  when  back  from 
Eton,  gone  to  Drury  Lane  or  Covent  Garden,  he  could 
not  be  certain  which.  At  the  end  of  the  first  act  the 
Manager  appeared  before  the  curtain.  "  Ladies  and 
Gentlemen,"  he  said  in  tremulous  voice,  "  it  is  our 
intention  as  usual  to  proceed  with  the  performance  of 
the  piece  on  the  boards  if  it  be  according  to  your 
pleasure,  but  it  is  my  duty  to  tell  you  that  sad  news  has 
just  arrived  from  France — it  is,  that  the  French  people 
have  murdered  their  King.  We  will  obey  your  com- 
mands." No  response  was  made,  but  every  one  in  the 
theatre  arose,  took  his  hat  and  coat  in  silence,  and  in  a  few 
minutes  the  building  was  empty.  Scores  of  memories  he 
recounted,  that  made  one  regret  that  the  fashion  of  story- 
telling was  ceasing  in  society.  He  had  once  been  in 
company  with  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds,  but  had  not  known 
it  at  the  time.  Of  Napoleon  Bonaparte  he  had  several 
social  reminiscences.  In  his  turn  he  was  also  an  excellent 
listener,  and  applauded  a  good  point  with  clapping  hands. 
Once,  by  the  entrance  of  a  member  of  the  family  when  I 
was  painting  him,  an  interruption  had  come  in  an  account 
I  was  giving  him  of  an  Eastern  adventure.  During  the 
pause,  I  had  waited  in  vain  to  catch  a  glimpse  of  the  face 
in  the  right  view  :  after  resuming  work,  I  was  intent  on 
exact  observation  of  my  sitter,  when  I  noticed  him  to  be 
impatient,  and  he  expressed  this  suspended  interest  by 
saying,  "  Well,  Mr.  Hunt,  tell  me  how  the  contention 
went  on."  I  had  to  reconsider  my  words,  for  my  thoughts 


222  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.VIII 

were  at  the  moment  more  on  my  work  than  on  my  story. 
When  I  had  proceeded  a  certain  way,  his  face  became 
perplexed  and  self-absorbed.  "  But,  sir,"  he  gravely 

said,    "  I    don't   understand,    your   evidence   does   not  fit 

»» 
on. 

"  Oh,  I  see,  Doctor,"  I  said.  "  I  was  wrong  ;  I  had 
left  out  an  important  link.  I  beg  your  pardon  !  I  will 
go  back  to  the  point  where  I  left  it  before,"  and  I  supplied 
what  in  my  pre-occupation  I  had  omitted.  His  face 
gradually  became  radiant  as  he  interjected,  rubbing  his 
hands,  "That's  all  right;  now  I  understand  exactly,  bravo! 
bravo  !  " 

At  dinner  the  Judge  enchanted  every  one.  Afterwards 
he  went  into  his  study,  and  he  told  me  that  he  was  able 
then  to  resolve  serious  questions  of  his  Court  better  than 
at  other  times.  I  stopped  work  at  luncheon,  and  after- 
wards we  took  a  ride,  once  trotting  to  Weymouth, 
partly  across  country.  The  Judge  kept  us  alive  with 
sparkling  conversation  from  the  time  we  started  till  the 
moment  we  again  reached  the  hall  door. 

When  I  had  completed  the  chalk  drawing,  I  invited 
the  daughters  to  see  it.  They  were  full  of  admiration, 
but  I  could  see  there  was  some  reserve  in  their  minds, 
and  when  I  pressed  them  to  be  quite  frank,  Miss 
Lushington  innocently  said,  "Why,  you've  made  papa 
with  wrinkles."  To  her  and  the  family  these  marks 
of  age  had  come  so  peacefully  that  they  did  not  exist. 

Once,  when  I  was  talking  to  Dean  Stanley  about  the 
Judge's  stories,  I  regretted  that  being  so  much  absorbed 
with  my  work  I  was  not  able  to  write  them  down,  as  1 
felt  they  certainly  should  not  be  left  unrecorded  ;  but 
the  Dean  told  me  that  he  had  made  it  a  rule  to  register 
all  that  he  had  heard.  No  one  could  have  chronicled 
them  better,  but  these  records  have  not  yet  seen  the  light. 

I  now  had  the  canvas  on  which  I  had  begun  "  The 
Egyptian  Girl  "  increased  to  take  a  life-sized  figure,  which 
I  proceeded  with  at  intervals,  and  finished  under  the  title 
of  "  The  Afterglow." 


B/M 


jr.  H.  H. 


KING    OF    HEARTS. 


224         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

In  the  beginning  of  1862  all  London  was  enthusias- 
tically stirred  in  expectation  of  the  glories  of  the  forth- 
coming International  Exhibition,  which  was  to  be  more 
extended  and  superb  than  any  that  had  preceded  it.  Sir 
Thomas  Fairbairn,  one  of  the  great  movers  in  the 
Manchester  Loan  Collection  of  1857,  was  one  of  the 
guarantors  of  the  new  venture,  and  came  to  London  to 
take  his  place  on  the  board.  Pictures  and  marbles  were 
borrowed  from  afar,  and  the  prospects  were  of  the  most 
promising  character  when,  one  Sunday  morning  while 
people  were  on  their  way  to  church,  the  ominous  bell  of 
St.  Paul's  tolled  out  the  mournful  loss  that  the  much- 
esteemed  Prince  Consort  was  dead.  This  distressful  loss 
grieved  the  whole  nation  and  threw  a  great  pall  over  the 
fortunes  of  the  Exhibition  ;  but  preparations  had  gone 
too  far  to  allow  it  to  be  postponed,  and  when  the  opening 
day  came,  the  joy  at  the  accomplishment  of  the  under- 
taking and  prospects  of  the  gathering  together  of  the 
latest  industrial  achievements  of  the  world  was  not  less 
because  of  undemonstrative  nature.  Some  of  Millais' 
and  my  pictures,  and,  for  the  first  time,  several  of 
Woolner's  works  in  marble,  were  exhibited.  In  other 
particulars  the  Exhibition  was  of  interest  to  me,  for 
there  the  firm  of  Morris,  Brown,  and  Rossetti  demonstrated 
publicly  for  the  first  time  in  our  age  that  the  designing 
of  furniture  and  utensils  was  the  proper  work  of  artists 
themselves.  The  determination  on  the  part  of  the  new 
firm  to  be  markedly  different  in  all  their  productions 
to  the  works  usually  supplied  to  the  market,  had 
made  many  of  their  contrivances  eccentric,  so  that 
the  common  world  stigmatised  their  tables  as  rough 
benches,  their  sofas  as  racks,  and  their  beds  as  instru- 
ments of  torture  ;  but  the  designers  themselves  learnt 
their  lesson,  and  eventually  started  on  admirable 
lines. 

It  was  matter  of  great  satisfaction  to  me  to  see 
Woolner's  work  well  exhibited  for  the  first  time  ;  he 
had  a  dozen  fine  examples  of  his  marble  carving  in 


vin     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      225 

the  Exhibition,  and  his  busts  showed  to  great  advan- 
tage in  comparison  with  many  of  those  by  others,  not  a 
few  of  which  were  as  though  they  had  been  modelled  in 
dough.  It  was  undoubtedly  a  want  that  nothing  he  sent 
possessed  the  spirit  of  design,  but  it  must  be  remembered 
that  until  now  he  had  not  had  any  opportunity  of  exercis- 
ing his  talent.  Sir  Thomas  Fairbairn  was  proud  to  have 
been  one  of  his  early  patrons.  One  night  in  his  smoking- 
room,  when  Woolner  and  I  were  his  fellow-guests,  he 
spoke  of  the  need  of  an  authorised  handbook  on  the 
works  of  art  in  the  Exhibition,  and  asked  whether  we 
knew  of  any  writer  competent  to  undertake  the  guide. 
Woolner  ardently  assured  our  host  that  he  knew  the 
very  man,  Francis  Turner  Palgrave,  and  believed  he 
could  persuade  him  to  take  it  up  with  enthusiasm. 
Woolner  was  appointed  to  bring  his  friend  to  consult 
over  the  matter,  and  the  next  day  Palgrave  arrived.  He 
stipulated  that  he  should  express  his  personal  opinion  on 
the  whole  question,  no  harm  was  foreseen  in  this,  as  the 
writer  was  to  sign  his  work.  Undoubtedly  Woolner  was 
elated  by  the  attention  his  works  were  gaining,  as  was 
demonstrated  one  Sunday  when  Augustus  Egg  and  I  were 
going  round  the  gallery.  We  came  upon  a  complete  set 
of  fine  photographs  from  Michael  Angelo's  Sistine  Chapel ; 
we  were  admiring  the  prodigious  power  of  design  and 
drawing  shown  in  these  works,  and  Egg  was  the  speaker, 
when  Woolner  happened  to  come  up.  "  That  fine  form  .1  " 
he  laughed.  "I  call  that  vulgar  display;  why,  a  life 
drawing  by  Mulready  would  be  worth  the  whole  ceiling," 
and  he  passed  on.  On  this  Egg  dryly  commented,  "  Your 
friend  Woolner  is  not  deficient  in  self-confidence." 

Very  soon  the  authorised  handbook  was  ready.  The 
historic  part  on  English  art  was  excellent  reading  ; 
but  with  only  a  glance  I  could  see  that  when  the 
modern  collection  was  criticised,  the  author's  prejudice 
against  all  other  sculptors  but  Woolner  was  rampant,  and 
his  admiration  of  him  riotous.  I  told  Woolner  that  it 
would  do  him  harm,  in  raising  up  a  strong  feeling  of 

VOL.    II  O 


226  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.VIII 

resentment  against  him,  and  events  soon  followed  which 
only  too  well  fulfilled  this  forecast. 

There  was  a  lull  for  a  time  in  public  attention  to  the 
handbook,  but  amongst  artists  and  at  clubs  there  was 
outspoken  displeasure,  which  marred  the  recognition 
of  what  was  undoubtedly  highly  admirable  in  Woolner's 
work. 


CHAPTER    IX 

1862-1864 

Who  was  this  master  good 

Of  whom  I  make  these  rhymes  ? 

His  name  is  Jacob  Homnium  Esquire, 

And  if  I'd  committed  crimes, 

Good  Lord  !   I  wouldn't  'ave  that  man 

Attack  me  in  the  Times  ! 

THACKERAY'S  Miscellanies . 

But  1  have  praised  you  when  you  have  well  deserved  ten  times  as 
much  as  I  have  said  you  did. — Antony  and  Cleopatra. 

ON    the    1 5th    May  appeared  this   communication   in  The 
Times,  from  the  redoubtable  writer,  Jacob  Omnium  :— 

Ma\  if?//,  1862. 

THE   INTERNATIONAL  EXHIBITION 

To  the  Editor  of  The  Times. 

SIR — I  desire  to  call  the  attention  of  the  Commissioners  of  the 
International  Exhibition  to  an  indecent  and  discourteous  act 
which  is  being  perpetrated  within  the  walls  of  the  Exhibition 
with  their  avowed  sanction  and,  I  am  assured,  to  their  profit. 

A  critic  named  Francis  Turner  Palgrave,  who  describes 
himself  as  a  Eellow  of  Exeter  College,  Oxford,  and  who  clearlv 
believes  himself  to  be  well  fitted  for  the  task  he  has  undertaken, 
has  been  employed  by  the  Commissioners  to  write  for  the  use  of 
the  public  A  Handbook  to  the  Art  Collections  in  the  International 
Gallery.  Mr.  Palgrave  is  evidently,  in  his  own  opinion,  a  thorough 
master  of  arts  ;  he  writes  as  positively  and  dogmatically  on  oil- 

227 


228         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

painting  and  water-colour  as  he  does  on  sculpture,  architecture, 
and  engraving.  On  all  these  topics  he  is  "  cock-sure."  There  is 
a  novelty  and  vigour  in  the  slang  of  art  criticism  in  which  he 
indulges  which  is  very  remarkable  ;  he  does  nothing  by  halves  ; 
those  whom  he  praises — and  he  praises  some  very  obscure  people 
— he  praises  to  the  skies  ;  those  whom  he  condemns — and  he 
condemns  a  large  number  of  very  distinguished  men — he  damns 
beyond  the  possibility  of  any  future  redemption.  I  will  give  a 
few  short  specimens  of  his  style. 

The  Commissioners  of  the  Exhibition  have  obtained  from  Sir 
Edwin  Landseer  such  of  his  works  as  they  thought  would  do  most 
credit  to  their  gallery — the  choice  was  theirs,  not  his  ;  and  thus 
does  the  critic  hired  by  them  to  guide  the  ignorant  public, 
illustrate  their  taste  and  discretion. 

"  In  '  Bolton  Abbey,'  Landseer  has  wasted  his  great  powers  on 
the  idle  profusion  of  lifeless  game  and  indolent  sensuality.  Nature 
is  apt  to  revenge  herself  on  the  true  man  if  he  is  unfaithful  for  a 
moment  ;  Landseer  is  generally  cold  in  colour,  but  in  this  picture 
the  charming  picturesque  touch,  which  half  redeems  that  deficiency, 
has  also  failed  him." 

It  is,  however,  in  dealing  with  Baron  Marochetti,  that  Mr. 
Palgrave's  good  taste  and  courteous  tones  are  most  advantageously 
exhibited  ;  of  the  Baron,  who  has,  at  considerable  cost  and  trouble 
to  himself,  done  his  best  to  meet  the  wishes  of  the  Commissioners, 
their  "own  critic  "  writes  as  follows  : — 

"  It  was  the  writer's  first  intention  when  he  learnt  that  the 
model  of  the  'Twin  Group'  was  to  be  exhibited  in  the  Gardens, 
to  have  given  to  it  that  serious  criticism  which  so  imposing  a 
mass  seems  to  demand.  Careful  examination  of  much  else  by  the 
same  hand  for  many  years  could  not  indeed  lead  him  to  anticipate 
sterling  merit  here,  for  the  study  which  began  with  a  belief  in  the 
excellence  of  Marochetti's  work  has  led  graduallv  and  surely  to  a 
conviction  of  its  baseness." 

This  is  pretty  strong,  but  it  is  nothing  to  what  follows.  The 
Commissioner's  "  own  critic  "  warms  to  his  task  as  he  proceeds. 
He  inveighs  against  the  "  colossal  clumsiness  "  of  the  sculptor's 
work,  he  points  out  his  "  ineffable  scorn  of  ignorance  of  the  rules 
of  art";  he  condemns  the  Turin  monument  as  fit  only  to  be 
classed  with  "  the  centre-pieces  of  a  confectioner."  He  denounces 
the  courteous  and  accomplished  gentleman  who  made  it  as  a  mere 
"  mountebank."  It  would  be  unfair  to  both  operator  and  patient 
to  attempt  to  condense  what  follows : — 

"  Addison  somewhere  justly  praises  the  impregnability  of 
nonsense.  '  Nonsense,'  he  says,  '  stands  upon  its  own  basis, 


ix        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      229 

like  a  rock  of  adamant  secured  by  its  natural  situation  against  all 
conquests  and  attacks.  If  it  affirms  anything  you  cannot  get 
hold  of  it  ;  or  if  it  denies,  you  cannot  confute  it.  In  a  word, 
there  are  greater  depths  and  obscurities  in  an  elaborate  and  well 
written  piece  of  nonsense  than  in  the  most  abstruse  and  profound 
tract  of  school  divinity.'  Thus  it  is  with  the  £  Carlo  Alberto.' 
Those  who  cannot  at  once  see  through  the  effect  and  specious 
audacity,  and  discover  that  there  is  nothing  but  an  amateur's 
worthless  sketch  magnified  into  Memnonian  proportions,  will  not 
be  convinced  even  by  a  right  arm  which  goes  straight  out  from 
the  trunk  without  a  crease  in  the  dress  or  a  trace  of  muscular 
motion,  swaying  its  ignorant  arms  like  a  branch  in  the  wind,  and 
with  the  left  (which  in  its  turn  hangs  at  the  shoulder  like  a 
dislocated  doll's)  covered  with  furrows,  intended  possibly  for  a 
coarse  model  of  stratification  ;  by  a  face  constructed  out  of  a 
lump  of  chin  and  a  dab  of  moustache,  by  the  padded  shape  which 
far  more  resembles  a  round  of  brawn  with  three  cord  marks  round 
the  middle  of  it,  than  the  human  body  ;  by  legs  (please  inspect 
the  left)  as  round  and  rigid  as  water-pipes  ;  and  all  this  and  much 
more  of  the  same  quality  set  bold  upright  like  a  child's  toy  rider 
astride  on  that  too  celebrated  animal  with  the  forequarters  of  one 
charger  and  the  rear  parts  of  another,  which  does  duty  already  in 
Westminster,  then  descend  (it  is  hardly  the  right  word)  to  the 
remaining  work,  take  the  bas-reliefs  crowded  by  figures  drawn 
with  all  the  accuracy  and  finish  of  the  prints  in  the  Penny  Novelist— 
admire  the  grace  of  the  Zouave  on  the  North-West,  the  well 
known  Sydenham  Pantaloon  on  the  diagonal  corner,  the  modelling 
in  the  lower  parts  of  his  neighbour,  where,  so  far  from  the  least 
suggestion  that  they  cover  human  limbs,  the  breeches  are  the  very 
image  of  those  which  Jack  hangs  out  upon  the  forecastle  when  he 
has  washed  and  starched  them  in  the  Atlantic." 

Such  is  the  style,  Sir,  in  which  this  Mr.  Palgrave  summarily 
disposes  of  Landseer,  Marochetti,  and  many  other  artists  who  have 
not  the  good  fortune  to  please  him.  On  modern  sculpture  he  is 
especially  hard.  He  says  that-  "  The  very  best  modern  antique 
bears  its  sentence  in  the  simple  fact  that  it  is  modern  antique. 
The  art  which  neither  springs  from  real  belief  nor  appeals  to  real 
belief — it  matters  little  whose  work  it  be — must  be  a  learned 
mockery  ;  I  do  not  see  how  the  word  can  be  avoided — a  nonsense 
sculpture.  Or,  look  at  it  in  another  way.  Can  we  imagine 
Phidias  carving  the  gods  of  Egypt  or  Syria  :  Should  Shakespeare 
have  written  '  Hamlet '  in  Latin  ?  x  Serious  as  the  subject  claims 

1   Ought  he  to  have  written  it  in  Danish  ? 


230         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

to  be  I  confess  it  is  very  difficult  to  think  of  Nolleken's  'Venus,' 
Canova's  'Venus,'  Gibson's  'Venus,'  everybody's  'Venus'  with 
due  decorum.  One  fancies  one  healthy  modern  laugh  would 
clear  the  air  of  these  idle  images  ;  one  agrees  with  the  honest  old 
woman  in  the  play,  who  preferred  a  roast  duck  to  all  the  birds  of 
the  heathen  mythology." 

We  are  then  warned  against  Brodie's,  Durham's,  Gibson's  and 
Lawler's  emptiness,  against  Thrupp's  "  toppling  and  proportionless 
Hamadryads  "  ;  while  Munro,  Bell,  and  Theed  are  pronounced 
to  be  so  nearly  beneath  even  Mr.  Palgrave's  criticism  as  to  "  be 
only  exempted  from  silence  by  their  positive  and  prominent 
failure."  Against  Munro  Mr.  Palgrave  appears  to  entertain  a 
special  gulgnon  ;  in  alluding  to  that  artist's  "Auld  Play"  and  his 
"Sound  of  the  Shell"  he  says  that: — 

"Such  vague  writhing  forms  have  not  even  a  good  doll's  like- 
ness to  human  children  ;  they  are  rather  mollusca  than  vertebrata, 
gaps,  scratches,  lumps,  and  swellings  stand  here,  alas,  for  the 
masterpieces  of  Nature's  modelling.  The  eyes  are  squinting 
cauters,  the  toes  inarticulate  knobs,  while  the  very  dresses  of  the 
poor  children  in  reality  so  full  of  charm  and  prettiness,  become 
clinging  cerements  of  no  nameable  texture  and  thrown  into  no 
possible  folds.  We  (the  Commissioners?)  should  not  have 
thought  it  worth  while  to  scrutinise  work  of  an  ignoramus  so 
grotesque  and  babyish  as  all  we  have  seen  by  Munro  with  any 
detail,  if  it  did  not  appeal  in  subject  to  popular  interests,  and  if 
we  had  not  some  faint  hope  that  arduous  as  are  the  steps  from 
'  Child's  Play '  to  marble  in  art,  the  author  of  these  works  may 
retrieve  himself  by  recommencing  his  art  before  it  is  too  late." 

Pleasant  for  Mr.  Munro  is  it  not  ?  How  truly  grateful  he 
must  feel  to  the  Commissioners  for  having  first  borrowed  his 
statues  to  adorn  their  Exhibition,  and  for  having  then  considerately 
discovered  in  Mr.  Palgrave  a  critic  competent  to  appreciate 
them,  and  bestow  on  the  sculptor  such  kind  and  practical  advice  ! 

if  in  selecting  works  of  art  for  exhibition  the  Commissioners 
have  made  a  bad  choice,  on  them  let  the  blame  fall  ;  it  was  in 
their  power,  nay,  it  was  their  duty,  to  exclude  any  works  deserv- 
ing the  opprobrious  terms  which  Mr.  Palgrave  so  lavishly  and 
indiscriminately  scatters.  But  it  appears  to  me  to  be  intolerable 
that  the  very  gentlemen,  who  have  earnestlv  solicited  these  artists 
to  exhibit  their  work  in  the  International  Exhibition,  should 
permit  such  ignorant  and  brutal  abuse  to  be  written  and  published 
under  their  sanction,  and  to  be  sold  under  their  name  within  their 
walls.  Indeed  I  can  only  explain  their  conduct  by  the  supposition 
that  they  have  never  read  what  their  critic  has  written.  I  have 


ix        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      231 

only  to  add  that  Mr.  Palgrave's  praise  seems  to  me  far  less  toler- 
able than  his  censure.  He  bestows  it  very  lavishly  on  a  certain 
gentleman  named  Arthur  Hughes,  of  whom  I  blush  to  say  I  have 
never  before  heard,  but  who,  in  his  opinion,  is  the  first  of  our 
living  painters,  and  thus  does  he  bespatter  Holman  Hunt  : — 

"Hunt's  pictures  burn  with  a  kind  of  inner  fire  which 
extinguishes  almost  all  other  men's  work  ;  the  sun's  heat  seems 
within  the  'Cairo'  ;  the  pure  crystal  day  itself  in  the  scene  from 
Shakespeare  ;  the  hazy  celestial  silver  of  the  moon  mixed  with  the 
stealthy  influences  of  starlight  and  dawning,  and  subtle  flashings 
from  gem  and  dewdrop  have  been  harmonised  in  the  '  Light  of 
the  World  '  by  we  know  not  what  mysterious  magic,"  and  so  on 
ad  nauseam. 

I  feel  certain  that  as  soon  as  the  attention  of  the  Commissioners 
has  been  called  to  Mr.  Palgrave's  bumptious  and  shallow  attempt 
to  bully  and  mislead  the  taste  of  the  public  under  the  shelter  of 
their  wings,  the  sale  of  his  precious  "Handbook"  will  be  pro- 
hibited within  the  Exhibition,  and  that  that  accomplished  writer 
will  be  necessitated  to  take  his  chance  of  circulation  extra  cathedra 
with  more  courteous  and  competent  critics,  in  which  case  I 
venture  to  prophesy  that  his  chance  will  be  a  very  bad  one. — I 
am,  Sir,  your  obedient  servant,  J.  O. 

May  i$t/i,   1862. 

On  the  next  day  the  following  letter  appeared  in  The 
Times  : — 

idt/i  May  1862. 

SIR-  Mr.  Francis  Turner  Palgrave,  who  tells  us  in  the  preface 
of  his  Handbook  to  the  Fine  Art  Collections  of  the  International 
Exhibition,  that  in  abusing  in  such  unmeasured  terms  some  of  the 
best  artists  in  this  country  he  is  reluctantly  fulfilling  a  grave 
judicial  function  entrusted  to  him  by  the  Royal  Commissioners, 
does  not  tell  us  who  he  is,  or  what  claims  he  has  to  represent  him- 
self as  the  redeemer  and  regenerator  of  English  art.  I  believe  I 
am  now  in  a  position  to  throw  a  good  deal  of  light  on  the  subject. 

Mr.  Palgrave  is  a  clerk  in  the  Privy  Council  Office,  and  one 
of  the  Government  Examiners  connected  with  the  Educational 
Department.  He  has  tried  his  hand  at  novel  writing  and  as  a 
poet  with  moderate  success  ;  he  now  comes  forward  as  an  art 
critic  whose  dicta  are  to  be  accepted  as  final,  supported  as  they 
are  by  the  patronage  of  the  Royal  Commissioners,  for  no  dog  of 
that  herd  may  bark  within  the  Exhibition  but  Mr.  Palgrave. 
He  claims  in  his  Preface  a  special  aptitude  for  sculpture,  an  art  to 
which  he  has  given  rnanv  vears'  close  attention. 


232         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Now  it  must  be  observed  that  in  his  Handbook,  although  he 
uses  the  harshest  and  most  insolent  language  to  nearly  all  the 
best  sculptors  of  the  day,  there  is  one  on  whom  he  lavishes  pages 
of  high-flown  praise  which  would  have  made  a  Phidias  blush  ; 
that  sculptor  is  Mr.  Woolner. 

The  object  of  this  is  evidently  to  fill  Mr.  Woolner's  pockets 
at  the  expense  of  his  fellow-labourers.  If,  as  Mr.  Palgrave  points 
out  (p.  105),  Adams'  "Wellington"  and  Burdett  Noble's 
"  Barrow "  and  "  Lyons,"  Munro's  "  Armstrong,"  Theed's 
"  Adam  "  and  "  Lawrence,"  are  a  disgrace  to  Englisfc  art  now, 
and  an  outrage  on  remote  generations,  there  is  a  chance  that 
people  desirous  of  ordering  busts  may  rush  to  Mr.  Woolner  if 
they  have  any  faith  in  the  judgment  and  integrity  of  Mr. 
Palgrave  and  of  the  Royal  Commissioners,  and  that  not  only 
Mr.  Palgrave,  but  also  Mr.  Woolner,  may  make  a  good  thing 
out  of  the  Exhibition. 

Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  a  matter  of  interest  to  know 
where  Mr.  Woolner  resides.  The  Royal  Blue  Book  affords  that 
information.  I  find  that  it  is  at  29  Welbeck  Street  that  the 
British  Phidias  is  to  be  found,  and  I  grieve  to  add  that  Mr. 
Palgrave,  the  regenerator  of  British  art — the  man  with  a  mission, 
who  believes  in  Woolner,  and  in  Woolner  alone,  and  who  orders 
us  all  to  do  the  same  actually  keeps  house  with  the  said  Woolner. 
So  says  the  Blue  Book. 

Surely  this  is  suspicious.  Is  it  not  just  possible  that  the  close 
attention  which  Mr.  Palgrave  professes  to  have  given  sculpture 
may  merely  mean  that  the  Critic  and  Phidias  have  talked  over  the 
competitors  of  the  latter  a  great  deal  at  breakfast  time,  and  that 
the  glowing  periods  in  which  the  Critic  praises  Phidias  and  abuses 
everybody  else  may  merely  represent  the  latter's  high  opinion  of 
himself  and  contempt  for  everybody  else  ? 

Why  do  they  (the  Commissioners)  keep  a  critic  at  all  r  What 
title  has  Mr.  Palgrave  to  use  the  language  he  has  "under  their 
sanction"  to  much  abler  and  better  men  than  himself?  And 
above  all,  why  are  we  to  have  Mr.  Woolner  forcibly  thrust  down 
our  throats  because  he  and  Mr.  Palgrave  find  it  convenient  to 
lodge  together  in  Marylebone  ?  —  I  am,  sir,  your  obedient 
servant,  J.  O. 

Then  followed  a  letter  signed  by  Calder  Marshall, 
R.A.,  W.  K.  Woodington,  and  Edward  Stephens,  explain- 
ing efforts  made  by  them  to  get  the  Handbook  suppressed, 
and  afterwards  another  from  G.  D.  Leslie,  protesting 


ix        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      233 

against-  the  unjust  detraction  of  his  father's  claims  as  a 
painter,  the  remarks  on  which  were  directed  at  the  char- 
acter of  his  colour,  which  indeed,  though  very  restrained, 
was  ever  fresh,  sound,  and  daylighty.  On  the  iyth 
appeared  a  letter  from  F.  T.  Palgrave,  in  which  he 
proved  that  the  extracts  from  his  Catalogue  given  by 
J.  O.  were  so  selected  that  an  undue  idea  was  conveyed 
of  their  injustice  to  the  painters  and  sculptors  he  blamed, 
and  Woolner  wrote  to  deny  that  he  had  in  the  slightest 
degree  influenced  Palgrave's  opinions. 

On  Monday,  the  I9th,  appeared  a  further  letter  from 
Palgrave,  enclosing  a  correspondence  between  the  Com- 
missioners and  himself,  which  terminated  in  the  with- 
drawal of  the  Fine  Art  Handbook  as  an  official  publica- 
tion. A  later  column  also  gave  a  further  letter  from 
"  J.  O.,"  headed  "Damon  and  Pythias,"  in  which  he 
quoted  long  passages  from  the  Catalogue  to  justify  his 
charge  of  unjust  laudation  of  Woolner,  and  his  assump- 
tion that  the  latter  had  inspired  Palgrave  with  his  own 
prejudices  on  sculpture.  What  well  illustrates  the  im- 
pression these  letters  made  is  the  following  humorous 
verse  which  appeared  in  public  from  the  pen  of  a  man 
of  note  : — 

Confound  his  impudence  !      I  cannot  say 

How  little  I've  enjoyed  myself  to-day. 

1  positively  shudder  when  I  look 

Within  the  pages  ot  this  crimson  book, 

For  all  that  once  seemed  lovely,  graceful,  chaste, 

Is  shown  to  be  in  execrable  taste. 

I  once  thought  Gibson  charming,  and,  indeed, 

Admired  the  "cold  vacuity"  of Theed  ! 

But  one,  I  find,  is  lifeless,  tame,  and  vile, 

The  other  in  the  "dull  spasmodic"  style. 

On  reading  further  on,  I  learn  with  pain 

That  Baron  Marochctti  tries  in  vain, 

"  Like  other  men  of  similar  pretensions, 

To  puff  and  blow  himself  to  Bull  dimensions." 

I'm  sure  that  Woolner,  who's  refined  and  modest, 

Although  his  fellow-lodger's  of  the  oddest, 

Must  blush  at  eulogy  so  coarse  and  stupid, 

And  own  there's  something  in  the  tinted  Cupid. 


234         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Now  the  author  of  the  letter  in  The  Times  was  a 
very  agreeable  member  of  the  Cosmopolitan  Club,  with 
whom  I  was  on  friendly  terms,  although  we  more  than 
once  sparred  over  the  degree  of  right  that  Marochetti  had 
to  oust  all  English  sculptors  from  any  chance  of  getting 
public  employment.  A  very  formidable  man  to  all  was 
this  Mr.  Higgins  ;  six  feet  eight  and  a  half  inches  was  the 
crown  of  his  cranium  from  the  ground  he  stood  on  ; 
perfectly  broad,  and  strong  in  proportion,  withal  re- 
markably handsome,  and  he  had  been  a  favourite  pupil  ot 
the  existing  belt-holder.  Thackeray  had  written  the  strong 
eulogium  on  him,  quoted  above,  and  he  was  in  close  relations 
with  Society.  "  J.  O."  cared  nothing  at  all  for  the  other 
sculptors  of  native  birth  whom  he  mentioned,  neither  did 
most  of  the  fashionable  classes. 

We  had  come  to  the  pass  now  that  Woolner,  by 
reason  of  the  commotion  caused  by  the  Handbook, 
was  in  danger  of  losing  the  prospect  that  he  had 
at  last  secured,  and  I  was  determined  that  he  should 
not  suffer  if  any  remonstrance  from  me  could  save  him. 
It  was  impossible  for  me  to  expose  Jacob  Omnium's 
motive,  veiled  under  the  show  of  defending  the  whole 
profession  ;  his  desire  was  to  turn  the  tide  in  favour  ot 
Marochetti  for  the  commission  of  a  statue  of  Macaulay  to 
be  put  up  at  Cambridge,  which  was  on  the  point  of  being 
decided  by  a  Council  largely  composed  of  men  in  favour 
of  the  young  Englishman. 

I  drafted  my  letter  and  went  down  to  Welbeck  Street. 
Palgrave  and  Woolner  were  just  finishing  breakfast,  and 
I  asked  what  hope  might  exist  of  a  champion  for  their 
cause.  They  were  dejected,  and  confessed  that  no  one 
was  likely  to  help  them,  which  was  more  serious  to  the 
Cambridge  chance,  because  Jacob  Omnium's  letters  had 
been  timed  so  as  to  appear  only  a  day  or  two  before  the 
award  of  the  Commission.  I  then  produced  my  letter, 
while  I  avowed  to  Palgrave  what  I  had  said  before,  that  it 
was  only  Woolner  that  I  could  consider  in  it,  and  it  was 
agreed  that  it  was  possible  it  might  save  the  situation. 


ix        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     235 

Accordingly  I  sent  it  to  The  Times,  and  the  editor  with  his 
usual  courtesy  at  once  inserted  it  :— 

SIR — Surely  your  correspondent  J.  O.  goes  somewhat  beyond 
the  just  limit  when,  in  his  letter  which  appeared  yesterday,  he 
makes  insinuations  against  Mr.  Woolner's  talents  and  honourable 
dealings,  in  addition  to  the  strictures  which  he  has  passed  upon 
the  Handbook  of  the  Exhibition,  in  which  Mr.  Woolner's  works 
are,  as  he  says,  so  exceptionally  praised.  It  may  be  said  that  I 
am  an  interested  person  in  maintaining  the  authority  of  the 
Handbook.  In  answer  I  have  to  declare  that  throughout  a  period 
of  twelve  or  thirteen  years,  during  which  the  works  that  I  have 
exhibited  have  often  been  roughly  handled  by  omnipotent  critics, 
I  have  never  attempted  to  say  a  word  in  public  to  avert  the  effect 
of  their  wrath,  and  I  have  equally  refrained  from  acknowledging 
favourable  criticisms,  either  in  public  or  private,  although  I  have 
in  both  cases  run  the  risk  of  being  misunderstood  by  the  readers 
as  well  as  the  writers  of  these  judgments.  I  have  not  read  the 
Handbook  in  question  ;  my  only  knowledge  of  it  is  from  "  J.  O.'s  " 
quotations  and  other  allusions,  and  I  am  not  therefore  in  a  good 
position  to  assent  or  to  dissent  from  Mr.  Palgrave's  views. 

Mr.  Woolner  and  Mr.  Palgrave,  it  is  true,  within  the  last 
two  months  have  taken  up  their  abode  in  the  same  house.  Is 
there  anything  suspicious  in  this  fact  to  any  but  "  J.  O."  ?  The 
first  had  set  himself  to  work  at  sculpture  for  years,  with  a  result 
which  has  commanded  the  admiration  of  many  of  the  best  men  of 
the  day.  The  second  is,  as  "  J.  O."  says,  a  novel  writer  and  poet, 
and  moreover  has  given  many  years'  close  attention  to  sculpture. 
What  is  there  in  the  positions  of  these  two  men  to  prevent  them 
from  occupying  the  same  house,  if  their  private  circumstances 
make  such  an  arrangement  desirable  ?  or  to  prevent  a  perfectly 
independent  pursuit  of  their  studies  after  they  are  established 
together:  Any  one  would  think,  from  "J.  O.'s"  letter,  that  no 
one  had  ever  before  complained  of  the  general  character  of  our 
public  statues  ;  that  Trafalgar  Square,  the  Royal  Exchange, 
Cheapside,  and  the  neighbourhood  of  the  Palace  of  Westminster 
contained  monuments  which  the  nation  regarded  with  just  pride, 
as  calculated  to  uphold  our  honour  as  an  artistic  nation  against 
the  world.  Surely  it  required  no  imaginary  breakfast-table  con- 
versations with  Mr.  Woolner  to  convince  a  sensible  man  that  this 
is  notoriously  incorrect.  Punch  and  your  own  columns  have 
made  indignation  against  such  works  almost  proverbial.  As  a 
friend  of  Mr.  Woolner,  I  mav  assert  that  his  appreciation  of  the 
few  really  great  things  of  our  modern  sculptors,  which  it  would 


236         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

be  invidious  to  specify  in  part  only,  is  as  absolute  as  that  of  any 
artist  of  my  acquaintance. 

When  "  J.  O."  confines  himself  to  the  question  of  whether  the 
Art  Handbook  should  be  sold  under  official  patronage,  he  deals  in 
a  perfectly  straightforward  English  manner,  but  the  public  will,  I 
think,  regard  his  attempt  to  use  the  interest  which  he  has  engaged 
for  this  question  to  the  injury  of  a  talented  and  honourable  gentle- 
man in  a  very  different  light. — I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

W.  HOLMAK  HUNT. 

TOR  VILLA,  CAMPDEN  HILL, 

\-th  May. 

The  letter  cost  me  not  a  little,  as  I  knew  it  must  do. 
J.  O.  naturally  resented  it,  and  I  was  now  entirely  cut  off 
from  Marochetti,  whose  talent  I  respected,  although  at 
times  it  bordered  on  the  confines  of  theatrical  bombast,  as 
seen  in  the  genteel  vulgarity  of  his  statue  of  Victory,  and 
in  the  flaunting  birds'  wings  in  his  Wellington  tomb. 
There  was  grace  in  his  statue  of  Princess  Elizabeth,  and 
force  in  that  of  Sir  Jamsetjee  Jeejeebhoy.  Sir  Edwin 
Landseer,  who  lately  had  shown  a  disposition  to  become 
friendly,  now  avoided  me.  And  all  the  painters  and 
sculptors  condemned  by  Palgrave  evidently  thought  me 
of  his  opinion,  while,  in  fact,  I  often  disagreed  with  him. 

On  the  same  day  as  mine,  appeared  a  joint  letter  in 
The  Times  from  Watts  and  Millais,  in  condemnation  of 
Palgrave's  Catalogue.  Woolner,  two  or  three  days  after 
my  letter,  told  me  that  the  Cambridge  Council  had  passed 
a  resolution  that,  while  the  heated  controversy  (I  alone 
being  the  defender)  was  going  on,  it  was  desirable  to 
postpone  their  decision  for  a  month;  and  this,  he  was 
told,  would  secure  him  the  commission,  and  it  did  so. 

I  feel  bound  to  say,  in  justice  to  my  own  judgment, 
that  when  Woolner's  statue  was  completed,  it  was  a  dis- 
appointment to  me.  And  although  part  of  his  few  ideal 
groups  continually  proved  the  excellence  of  his  modelling 
and  marble  carving,  the  spirit  of  his  design  did  not,  on 
the  whole,  satisfy  the  early  expectations  of  his  power, 
which  his  admirable  statue  of  Sassoon  certainly  revived. 
My  protest  was  perhaps  the  first  to  give  a  much-grudged 


ix        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     237 

opening  to  English  sculptors,  and  quickly  resulted  in 
the  development  of  new  men  whose  genius  cannot  be 
mistaken. 

Though  the  original  study  for  my  picture  of "  The 
Finding  in  the  Temple  "  had  yet  only  some  experimental 
parts  painted  on  the  canvas,  it  would  have  been  a  loss  to 
leave  it  incomplete,  and  I  devoted  myself  to  finishing  it. 
In  some  slight  points  the  outlines  differed  from  the  larger 
picture,  and,  for  greater  joy  in  the  work,  I  chose  to  make 
changes  of  hue  in  some  parts  of  the  composition. 

Augustus  Egg  had  become  so  far  affected  in  health 
that  he  now  wintered  abroad  ;  this  year  he  went  to 
Algiers,  and  we  were  all  hoping  that  he  would  return, 
when  we  heard  of  his  death. 

When  I  took  the  news  to  Wilkie  Collins  he  was  quite 
broken  down,  and  rocked  himself  to  and  fro,  saving;,  "  And 

J  J         O 

so  I  shall  never  any  more  shake  that  dear  hand  and  look 
into  that  beloved  face  !  And,  Holman,"  he  added,  "  all 
we  can  resolve  is  to  be  closer  together  as  more  precious 
in  having  had  his  affection." 

I  was  appealed  to  by  an  editor  for  some  reminiscences 
of  him  for  a  journal,  and  to  better  qualify  myself  for  a 
task  which  I  felt  beyond  me,  I  wrote  to  Charles  Dickens 
to  help  me  with  any  testimony  that  he  could  supply. 
His  response  will  be  the  best  eulogium  upon  our  common 
friend  that  could  appear  : — 

GAD'S   HILI.   PLACE, 
HlGHAM,   NEAR   ROCHESTER,   KENT, 

Sunday  Night,  1st  May  1863. 

MY  DEAR  MR.  HUNT  I  should  have  immediately  complied 
with  your  request  but  for  the  sufficient  reason  that  I  really  have 
nothing  to  tell  which  the  public  has  any  claim  to  know.  The 
dear  fellow  was  always  one  of  the  most  popular  of  the  party, 
always  sweet-tempered,  humorous,  conscientious,  thoroughly 
good,  and  thoroughly  beloved.  I  always  advised  with  him  about 
the  compositions  of  the  figures  and  the  like,1  and  his  artistic 

1  This  refers  to  arrangements  made  in  theatrical  tours  by  Dickens  and 
his  friends,  including  Egg,  made  in  the  provinces  to  secure  a  fund  for  the 
relief  of  decayed  actors. 


238          PRE-RAPHAELIT1SM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

feeling  and  his  patience  were  what  you  know  them  to  have  been. 
There  is  not  a  single  grain  of  alloy,  thank  God,  in  my  remem- 
brance of  our  intimate  personal  association.  But  I  look  back 
upon  his  ways  and  words,  in  that  half-gipsy  life  of  our  theatricals, 
as  sanctified  by  his  death  and  as  not  belonging  to  the  public  at  all. 
In  that  aspect  of  his  life,  as  in  every  other,  he  was  a  thoroughly 
staunch,  true,  reliable  man.  All  else  I  regard  as  private  com- 
panionship and  confidences. — Believe  me,  ever  faithfully  yours, 

CHARLES  DICKENS. 

At  this  period  I  visited  Sir  Thomas  Fairbairn  at 
Burton  Park  near  Penshurst.  Wingrove  Cook  was  also 
a  guest  there  ;  he  had  been  the  correspondent  to  The  Times 
in  China  during  the  recent  war,  and  had  written  letters  of 
world-wide  interest  on  that  subject.  The  later  con- 
tributions to  the  series  had  been  unprecedentedly  amusing 
and  edifying,  describing  the  behaviour  of  the  atrocious 
Commissioner  "  Yeh  "  on  his  voyage  as  a  prisoner  to  India. 
He  reported  that  when  left  alone  in  the  saloon,  the  great 
Chinaman  was  observed  through  a  peephole  to  jump 
down  from  his  seat  of  state,  and  exhibit  a  monkey-like 
curiosity,  turning  over  cushions  and  prying  into  corners  ; 
but  on  the  slightest  sound  of  returning  footsteps,  he  would 
race  back  to  resume  his  seat  of  dignity  with  the  im- 
perturbable serenity  of  a  Buddhist  image.  Wingrove 
Cook  was  a  writer  of  the  greatest  facility,  who  would, 
without  pause  for  a  word  or  expression,  describe  graphic- 
ally all  that  had  passed  before  his  eyes.  He  was  a  man 
of  ready  wit,  and  generally  a  good  fellow. 

One  day  out  shooting  we  stopped  to  have  lunch  in  an 
open  glade,  and  talked  of  family  pedigrees.  Our  host 
remarked  that  once  he  had  the  ambition  to  trace  his  family 
lineage  ;  that  he  had  got  back  two  hundred  years,  to  find 
that  an  ancestress  had  been  burnt  as  a  witch,  and  that  he 
looked  upon  the  discovery  as  a  reason  for  stopping  his 
investigations.  His  father,  Sir  William  Fairbairn,  was 
the  great  engineer,  who  had  the  credit  of  completing  the 
Menai  Bridge.  When  the  son  came  to  an  end  of  the 
story  of  his  ancestress  condemned  for  diabolical  dealings, 


ix        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     239 

Wingrove  Cook  reflected,  "  Well,  had  your  father  lived 
two  hundred  years  ago,  I  have  no  doubt  whatever  that 
he  would  have  kept  up  the  family  character  and  been  burnt 
as  a  wizard." 

Still  discoursing,  we  talked  about  the  author  of  Vanity 
Fair.  Cook  said,  "  Thackeray  is  no  genius  !  He  was  my 
schoolfellow,  and  I've  known  him  all  along  for  a  rather 
able  and  plodding  gentleman  of  letters,  nothing  more  ; 
amusing  enough  some  of  his  lucubrations  are,  but  he  is 

o  o  f  ' 

overrated,  he  hammers  out  all  with  the  greatest  toil.  Look 
here  !  when  I  came  home  last  year  after  a  long  absence 
abroad,  I  invited  a  party  of  old  chums  to  come  and  dine 
with  me  at  Hampton  Court.  And  I  went  to  Thackeray, 
saying,  '  Now,  my  dear  fellow,  you  must  come  and  dine 
with  me  and  a  lot  of  ancient  cronies  next  Wednesday.' 

"  '  Ah  me  !  '  returned  William  Makepeace,  '  I  wish 
'twere  not  so,  but  the  end  of  the  month  is  coming,  and 
so  far  I  have  not  written  a  line  of  my  new  number,  and 
I  have  put  aside  next  Wednesday  evening  to  go  down  to 
some  quiet  lodgings  I  have  taken  at  Surbiton  to  make  a 
big  innings,  so  you  see  I  am  obliged  to  give  up  your 
attractive  party.  I'm  truly  chagrined.' 

" '  Do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  you  consider  the 
writing  a  few  pages  of  your  story  a  sufficient  reason  for 
breaking  through  our  good  fellowship  ?'  I  argued.  '  Wrhy, 
I  could  write  twice  the  quantity  of  your  whole  number  in 
four  hours.' 

"  '  Ah  !  '  Thackeray  replied,  '  I  know  too  well  that  I 
could  not,  and  if  I  gave  up  Wednesday  night,  I  should 
find  that  I  was  behind  and  all  my  sense  of  deliberate 
"judgment  would  go.  It  would  not  do  indeed.' 

jo  o 

"  It  was  no  use  arguing  with  him,  and  I  had  to  give 
him  up.  Well,  our  party  met.  Every  one  asked  why 
Thackeray  was  not  there,  and  I  told  them.  Nevertheless 
we  had  a  jolly  evening,  and  when  we  were  breaking  up, 
in  reply  to  an  inquiry  where  Surbiton  was,  I  decided  that 
we  would  drive  home  that  way,  and  knock  up  W.  M. 
Thackeray.  We  arrived  at  the  dark  village.  There  was 


24o         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

one  house  with  a  light  on  the  first  floor  ;  it  was  easy  to 
conclude  that  we  were  at  the  right  one,  and  we  all  shouted 
out  'Thackeray.'  The  window  was  forthwith  opened 
and  our  friend  appeared  ;  recognising  us,  he  said  quietly, 
'  Oh  !  wait  a  minute  and  I  will  come  down  and  let  you 
in.'  He  descended  and  opened  the  door.  He  was  feverish, 
yet  very  calm,  and  terribly  sober. 

"  We  flocked  in,  and  I  preceded  the  party  upstairs. 
There  was  the  writing-pad  with  some  sheets  of  notepaper 
on  the  table,  and  the  upper  sheet  had  about  twelve  lines 
of  his  neatest  small  writing,  with  a  blank  space  at  the 
bottom.  I  held  it  up  before  Thackeray.  '  Tell  me,' 
I  said,  '  is  this  all  that  you  have  written  this  blessed 
evening  ? ' 

"  '  Alas  !  '  he  replied  quite  sadly,  '  that  is  all.' 

"  And  I  rejoined,  '  Then  that  is  what  you  left  all  of 
us  for  ?  You  ought  to  be  ashamed  of  yourself  And  in 
return,  he  admitted  that  I  was  quite  right." 

While  my  mind  was  still  in  the  lodging  at  Surbiton, 
and  following  the  inspired  author  of  Vanity  Fair  after  his 
boisterous  companions  had  gone  and  he  sat  down  to  gather 
up  the  disturbed  threads  of  his  wonderful  embroidery, 
Wingrove  unsuspectingly  said  to  us,  "  Now  do  you  call 
that  a  genius  ?  " 

While  I  was  at  Burton  Park,  Trelawney,  the  friend  of 
Byron  and  Shelley,  arrived.  He  was  a  man  of  nearly  eighty 
years  of  age  at  the  time,  in  stature  about  five  feet  nine;  his 
shoulders  were  of  great  width  and  his  chest  of  Herculean 
girth,  his  neck  was  short  and  bull-like,  and  his  head 
modelled  as  if  in  bronze,  with  features  hammered  into 
grim  defiance.  His  eye  was  penetrating,  and  his  mouth 
was  shut  like  an  iron  chest  above  a  Roman  chin  ;  it  was  no 
surprise  to  find  his  voice  full  and  rough.  And  yet  with  all 
this  there  was  a  certain  geniality  in  him  which  he  con- 
cealed as  though  he  were  ashamed  of  it  at  first.  When 
I  was  painting  one  morning  in  the  park,  I  saw  him  ap- 
proaching. When  he  was  nigh  I  called  out,  "  How  do 
you  do,  Mr.  Trelawney  ?  '  He  walked  on  without 


ix        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     241 

answering,  and  coming  close  threw  himself  down  on  the 
grass  behind  me.  I  repeated  my  salutation.  His  reply 
was,  "  I  think  that  is  about  the  most  foolish  thing  one  man 
can  say  to  another."  I  hazarded,  "  Can  I  put  it  another 
way,  and  say,  I  hope  you're  quite  well,  Mr.  Trelawney?  ' 
"  Of  course  I  am,"  he  said.  "  I'm  glad  you've  come  out 
to  see  me,  to  give  me  the  opportunity  of  a  quiet  chat  with 
you,"  I  continued,  not  noticing  his  tone.  "  Besides  Byron 
and  Shelley,  you  knew  Keats,  tell  me  what  height  Keats 
was,  for  the  idea  prevails  that  he  was  extremely  short, 
and  that  does  not  correspond  with  the  character  of  his 
head  as  seen  in  the  cast.  From  what  Keats  idly  says 
himself  it  is  inferred  he  was  only  five  feet."  "  No,  he  was 
of  reasonable  height,  about  our  own,"  said  Trelawney. 
"  Tell  me  how  the  character  of  his  face  inspired  you,"  I 
continued.  "  He  couldn't  be  called  good-looking,"  he 
replied,  "because  he  was  under-hung."  "You  use  the 
word  in  an  opposite  sense  to  that  in  which  it  is  sometimes 
applied  to  Charles  the  Fifth  and  Philip  the  Second  of 
Spain,  or  to  a  bulldog  ?  "  I  said.  "  Of  course  Keats  was 
the  very  reverse,"  he  grunted,  "  and  the  defect  gave  a  fragile 
aspect  to  him  as  a  man." 

We  talked  of  Byron,  and  Trelawney  said  he  had  put 
to  the  test  Byron's  power  of  swimming,  in  which  he  had 
boasted  in  his  well-known  lines.  "  Bathing  from  the  beach 
one  day,"  he  said,  "  I  pointed  to  a  ship  out  at  anchor 
and  asked  him  to  race  me  to  it.  We  started,  and  in 
a  few  strokes  I  found  that  it  was  a  mockery  for  me  to 
exert  myself.  I  waited  for  him  to  come  up  and  made  a 
fresh  start,  repeating  this  two  or  three  times  ;  at  last  I 
swam  round  the  ship,  and  as  I  returned  met  him  not  yet 
arrived.  '  Get  away  from  me,'  he  said,  '  I  hate  you,'  and 
I  saw  he  was  really  angered  ;  to  pacify  him  I  said,  '  Why, 
Byron,  if  I  could  write  Childe  Harold  I  should  not  mind 
having  some  one  beat  me  in  swimming.'  But  he  was 
sore  with  me  and  remained  so  for  some  time." 

With  the  massive  chest,  shoulders,  and  arms  before 
me  the  story  could  well  be  understood. 

VOL.    II  R 


242          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

A  few  days  later  at  dinner  Trelawney's  place  at  table 
was  empty,  and  a  servant  was  sent  up  to  his  room,  who 
reported  that  he  was  not  there  and  could  not  be  found. 
This  arousing  curiosity,  the  master  asked  the  butler  if 
he  knew  anything  about  the  guest.  "  Yes,  Sir  Thomas," 
he  said,  "  I  saw  him  going  with  his  valise  in  his  hand 
on  his  way  to  the  station  in  the  afternoon,  and  I  think, 
Sir  Thomas,  he  has  left."  Being  pressed  for  further 
news  of  Trelawney,  he  said  with  the  gravity  becoming  a 
trained  servant,  "  He  was  sitting  in  the  afternoon  in 
the  lake  up  to  his  neck  in  water  reading  a  book,  and  he 
remained  there  till  dusk,  Sir  Thomas."  Thus  ended  the 
visit  of  this  survivor  of  a  past  generation. 

A  man  occasionally  appeared  among  our  circle  at  this 
time  who  proved  soon  afterwards  to  be  one  of  the  great 
figures  of  our  time.  Before  The  Ordeal  of  Richard 
Feverel  had  made  George  Meredith  receive  his  first 
welcome  from  the  world,  we  recognised  the  author  as 
both  brilliant  in  his  wit  and  also  singularly  handsome 
in  his  person.  Of  nut-brown  hair  and  blue  eyes,  the 
perfect  type  of  a  well-bred  Englishman,  he  stood  about 
five  feet  eight,  and  was  of  about  my  own  age.  He 
had  a  boy  of  some  five  or  six  years  old,  and  when  he 
lost  his  first  wife,  the  daughter  of  Peacock,  who  had 
been  in  youth  a  friend  of  Shelley,  he  devoted  himself 
unremittingly  to  the  child  and  to  his  training  and  educa- 
tion. When  I  was  told  Meredith  was  about  to  take  up 
his  residence  with  Rossetti  in  Cheyne  Walk,  I  recognised 
regretfully  that  this  combination  would  be  an  obstacle  to 
the  increase  of  my  intimacy  with  the  novelist  at  the  time, 
but  it  transpired  afterwards  that  he  relinquished  his  project 
ere  it  was  put  into  execution,  and  he  has  told  me  since 
that  he  never  slept  at  Queen's  House. 

On  the  night  of  the  marriage  of  the  Prince  and 
Princess  of  Wales,  I  went  to  the  City  to  see  the  decorations 
of  the  streets  through  which  the  Royal  party  had  passed. 
The  display  made  many  edifices,  by  daylight  dingy  with  city 
smoke,  fairylike  and  gorgeous.  Temple  Bar  was  enlivened 


ix        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     243 

by  hangings  of  gold  and  silver  tissue,  and  London  Bridge, 
was  hung  with  masts,  crimson  banners  surmounting 
the  Danish  insignia  of  the  Elephant  ;  tripod  braziers 
and  groups  of  statuary  made  up  the  show  of  welcome 
to  the  Princess  on  a  spot  full  of  memories  of  Danish 
exploits  of  ancient  times,  and  the  whole  was  illumin- 
ated by  an  efFulgence  of  light.  Being  fascinated  by  the 
picturesque  scene,  I  made  sketches  of  it  in  my  note-book, 
and  the  next  day,  feeling  how  inadequate  lines  alone  were 
to  give  the  effect,  I  recorded  them  with  colour  on  a 
canvas.  When  I  had  completed  this,  the  Hogarthian 
humour  that  I  had  seen  tempted  me  to  introduce  the 
crowd  ;  but  to  do  this  at  all  adequately  grew  to  be  an 
undertaking.  I  was  led  on,  and  felt  that  the  months 
during  which  I  could  see  that  family  matters  would  still 
detain  me  in  England  would  not  be  ill  spent  in  perpetuat- 
ing this  scene  of  contemporary  history,  but  the  work 
proved  to  be  much  greater  than  I  had  anticipated. 

When  the  picture  was  finished  I  had  it  exhibited  in 
a  gallery  in  Hanover  Street,  together  with  a  few  others, 
including  "The  Afterglow"  and  the  painting  of  "The 
Last  Day  in  the  Old  Home  "  by  my  pupil  Martineau.  I 
left  the  carrying  out  of  all  arrangement  of  lighting,  etc., 
to  a  manager,  and  did  not  see  them  until  the  morning 
of  the  private  view,  when  His  Royal  Highness  the  Prince 
of  Wales,  with  the  Princess  of  Wales,  had  promised  to 
do  us  the  honour  of  visiting  our  pictures.  My  arrival 
was  only  a  couple  of  hours  before  the  Royal  visit,  and 
there  was  such  a  scene  of  confusion,  of  carpenters'  tools, 
ot  sweeping  materials,  bare  boards,  steps  and  the  like, 
that  I  was  alarmed  at  the  possibility  that  some  of 
these  might  not  be  out  of  sight  before  the  Royalties' 
arrival. 

In  extraordinary  manner  however  all  disappeared  as 
by  magic  just  as  we  heard  the  Royal  approach  announced. 

Promptly  His  Royal  Highness  scanned  Robert 
Martineau's  picture  with  interested  attention,  then  turned 
to  the  picture  of  "  The  Afterglow,"  pointing  out  to  the 


244         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Princess  the  correctness  of  type,  atmosphere,  and  costume 
of  the  Egyptian  picture.  The  Prince  then  asked  me 
for  the  picture  of  "  London  Bridge."  "  Where  is  the 
Princess  ;  where  am  I  ? "  he  inquired  in  looking  on 
the  motley  scene.  I  explained  that  the  picture  dealt 
only  with  "  London  Bridge  by  Night  on  the  Occasion 
of  the  Marriage,"  crowded  by  the  mob  viewing  the 
illuminations.  Looking  at  it  from  point  to  point,  our 
Royal  guest  asked  many  questions  about  it,  but  suddenly 
singling  out  Mr.  Combe's  figure,  which  I  had  introduced 
into  the  crowd,  with  face  no  larger  than  a  sixpence,  the 
Prince  exclaimed,  "  I  know  that  man  !  Wait  a  minute,"  he 
added,  "  I  have  seen  him  in  the  hunting-field  with  Lord 
Macclesfield's  hounds.  He  rides  a  clever  pony  about  four- 
teen hands  high,  and  his  beard  blows  over  his  shoulders. 
He  is  the  head  of  a  house  at  Oxford,  not  a  college  "•  —as  he 
went  on  following  the  trace  in  his  mind — "  but  I'll  tell  you 
—yes- — I  remember  now — it's  the  Printing  Press,  and  he 
rides  in  a  red  jacket.  Am  I  not  right  ? 

"Your  Royal  Highness  is  indeed  surprisingly  so,1'  I 
answered  ;  "  for  although  I  have  not  been  with  that  pack 
when  you,  sir,  were  in  the  field,  Mr.  Combe  has  often 
told  me  that  he  has  seen  Your  Royal  Highness  with  Lord 
Macclesfield." 

"  Remind  me  of  his  name,"  said  the  Prince. 

Before  I  had  well  said  it  he  took  me  up  with,  "  Yes,  I 
remember,  Combe  of  course." 

This  is  an  example  of  the  extraordinary  faculty 
possessed  by  the  Royal  Family  of  remembering  faces  and 
names,  and  it  would  be  a  want  in  my  record  of  remarkable 
individuals  of  my  time  if  I  were  not  to  note  this  experience 
of  mine  of  our  present  King's  phenomenal  and  gracious 
recognition  of  individuals. 

In  1864,  when  Garibaldi  came  to  England,  there  was 
such  a  press  of  admirers  about  him,  that  I  could  not  out 
of  my  much  taxed  time  make  arrangements  for  seeing  the 
great  man  in  any  manner  that  would  enable  me  to  satisfy 
my  artistic  interest  on  the  outward  aspect  which  his  inner 


ix        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     245 

divinity  of  soul  had  stamped  upon  his  personality. 
Despairing  of  the  opportunity  of  a  satisfactory  meet- 
ing with  the  hero,  I  was  unexpectedly  gratified  at 
receiving  an  invitation  from  the  Duchess  of  Argyll 
to  meet  him  at  breakfast.  The  party  consisted  of 
some  twenty  people,  and  the  man  who  had  made  the 
greatest  romance  of  modern  days  walked  in  modestly 
with  a  friend  or  two,  who  stepped  aside  while  he 
advanced  to  be  received  by  his  host  and  hostess,  with 
her  mother,  the  gentle  and  still  beautiful  Duchess  of 
Sutherland. 

Garibaldi  from  his  photographs  had  appeared  to  me  to 
be  a  man  of  about  five  feet  ten  in  height,  and  indeed  when 
he  stood  alone  he  might  still  be  thought  to  be  of  that 
stature,  so  well  was  he  proportioned  ;  but  alongside  of 
other  men,  the  stalwart  bag-pipers  to  wit,  he  proved  to 
be  not  more  than  about  five  feet  five. 

What  a  difference  there  is  between  man  and  man  ! 
One  is  employing  his  full  powers  to  dig  a  grave,  and 
another  no  bigger  is  making  a  kingdom,  and  withal  does 
so  with  the  honesty  of  the  simplest  child  ;  another  will 
connect  seas  together  and  change  the  course  of  naviga- 
tion. While  one  man  quarrels  in  a  drunken  brawl, 
the  other  will  use  his  strength  to  overthrow  tyrants  and 
consolidate  a  nation.  It  was  the  glory  of  Garibaldi 
that  while  he  had  achieved  the  latter  task  he  had  used 
no  deceit.  Machiavelianism  was  to  him  enough  to  con- 
demn a  cause  as  a  miserable  one  ;  his  yea  was  yea,  and 
his  nay  nay,  but  was  he  then  blunt  and  rugged  ?  No. 
Certainly  the  gods  had  made  in  him  a  vessel  of  high  nobility 
out  of  the  clay  of  earth  :  not  a  line  was  there  in  his  face  or 
figure  that  was  not  wholly  heroic.  The  forehead  and 
nose  seen  in  profile  were  of  the  same  inclination,  the 
bridge  of  the  nose  following  the  brow  in  leonine  continuity, 
the  eyes  were  profoundly  caverned,  the  cheeks  and  the  jaw 
amply  expressed  the  power  of  judicious  will,  their  anatomy 
showing  itself  vigorously  below  the  surface,  both  alike 
declaring  the  strength  of  self-control  and  control  of  others. 


246          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

He  talked  in  French,  and  taking  the  Duchess  of  Argyll 
on  his  arm  with  a  perfection  of  courtesy,  the  red-shirted 
hero  conducted  her  to  table.  On  his  left  was  the  Duchess 
of  Sutherland.  After  some  talk  about  Italy,  his  earlier 
campaign  in  South  America  was  discussed,  and  the  ladies 
in  the  course  of  conversation  inquired  whether  the  people  of 
Uruguay  were  of  fair  complexion.  "  Yes,"  he  said,  "  they 
are  generally  fair  as  Europeans."  Then  reflecting  that 
his  remark  as  distinguishing  the  people  from  negroes  and 
half-caste  might  require  qualification,  he  gesticulated  with 
either  hand  to  the  ladies  on  right  and  left  in  turn,  and 
said,  inclining  his  head  ceremoniously,  "  Quand  je  dis 
blonde,  il  ne  faut  pas  croire  que  ces  personnes  dont  je 
parle  possedent  la  peau  blanche  de  vous,  Madame  la 
Duchesse  d'Argyll,  ou  de  vous,  Madame  la  Duchesse  de 
Sutherland." 

I  did  not  have  personal  talk  with  him,  nor  attempt  a 
portrait,  but  many  artists  who  induced  him  to  sit  to 
them  had  their  work  suddenly  cut  short.  It  had  been 
planned  that  he  should  make  a  circuit  of  the  im- 
portant provincial  cities  of  Great  Britain,  but  on  a  day 
or  two  after  my  seeing  him,  at  some  public  gathering  he 
very  simply  expressed  his  indebtedness  to  the  English 
fleet  lying  in  the  Bay  of  Naples  for  having  refused  to 
stir  from  their  anchorage,  which  course  had  sheltered  the 
force  of  volunteers  as  they  were  approaching  the  land 
forts,  enabling  him  to  bring  his  men  close  to  shore 
without  being  exposed  to  fire.  The  course  the  British 
admiral  took  was  really  dictated  by  previous  policy, 
Garibaldi  was  justified  in  taking  advantage  of  it,  but  our 
Ministers  could  neither  accept  nor  refuse  his  gratitude, 
and  they  feared  further  complications  might  be  caused  by 
future  speeches  ;  the  wish  was  therefore  expressed  that  he 
should  not  complete  his  visit  at  that  time.  Garibaldi 
accordingly  left  our  island  very  abruptly. 

About  this  time  Baron  Leys'  pictures  appeared  in 
London.  He  had  based  his  system  upon  revivalism,  but 
being  a  Netherlander  he  eschewed  the  classicalism  of  the 


ix        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     247 

Renaissance,  not  only  as  it  showed  itself  in  Italian  art,  but 
as  it  was  reflected  in  Albert  Diirer  and  other  high  German 
artists.  He  had  rather  taken  the  Basle  School  as  seen  in 
Holbein  and  other  portraitists  for  a  model.  In  his  out- 
of-door  scenes  he  avoided  sunlight  effects,  and  gave  the 
more  prevalent  grey  light  of  an  aqueous  climate  ;  he  often 
painted  groups  with  scarcely  traceable  cast  shadows,  with 
almost  childish  naivete  as  to  the  posings  of  his  figures, 
portraying  these  with  full  yet  careful  handling.  A  few 
of  his  performances  in  which  women's  figures  appeared 
were  at  times  distinctly  possessed  of  grace  of  form  and 
of  pose.  Alma-Tadema  had  been  his  pupil,  and  early 
acquired  his  master's  power,  which  he  applied  from  the 
beginning  to  Roman  subjects  of  the  Imperial  time  with 
an  archaeological  insight  and  exactness  never  attained 
before. 

Dr.  Sewell  in  earlier  years,  when  founding  Radley,  had 
consulted  me  about  an  art  master  for  the  school,  one  who 
could  awaken  and  also  satisfy  interest  by  his  lectures,  and 
teach  drawing.  I  had  introduced  to  him  my  fellow- 
student,  John  L.  Tupper,  who  was  invited  down  to  learn 
the  duties  and  the  prospects  of  the  intended  post. 

He  was  welcomed  cordially  and  his  qualifications  were 
recognised,  but  as  no  funds  were  available  for  the  pro- 
fessor, the  appointment  had  to  be  indefinitely  postponed. 
In  1864,  having  met  Dr.  Temple  at  a  country  house, 
he  inquired  if  I  knew  of  any  artist  qualified  to  fill  the 
post  of  drawing-master  at  Rugby.  I  named  Tupper, 
explaining  that  he  would  not  be  content  to  fulfil  the 
ordinary  routine  of  pencil  drawing,  but  would  strive  to 
accomplish  something  much  more  thorough  by  his  teach- 
ing. Immediately  he  entered  into  office  he  made  a 

-. 

demand  for  funds  to  purchase  a  small  collection  of  casts 
from  the  Pheidian  marbles,  and  for  the  purchase  of  a 
skeleton  and  anatomical  figure,  with  a  hall  in  which  to 
place  them  ;  nothing  but  the  latter  could  be  afforded, 
but  my  friend  would  not  be  defeated,  and  bought  the 
objects  for  serious  study  himself.  It  was  a  pro- 


248         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

test  against  the  ordinary  practice  of  drawing  broken- 
down  cottages  and  dilapidated  five  -  barred  gates  and 
pumps,  and  I  know  that  in  some  cases  it  did  good  service 
in  the  serious  training  of  youths  in  the  knowledge  of 
fundamental  principles  of  form.  But  unhappily  he  did  not 
live  long.  The  school  authorities  bought  the  collection 
from  his  widow,  and  these  examples  remain,  leaving  the 
hope  that  even  yet  they  may  do  some  good  service  for 
Art,  and  influence  the  young  who  in  the  future  may  be  a 
power  in  the  realm  to  direct  public  taste  in  the  choice  of 
true  architects,  sculptors,  and  painters. 

After  the  Royal  Commission  of  1863  had  published 
its  report  on  the  Royal  Academy,  the  leaders  of  that 
institution  took  some  steps  to  pacify  the  malcontents  by 
making  overtures  to  those  who  seemed  most  important 
and  promising.  G.  F.  Watts  was  one  of  those  who  had 
been  badly  used  by  them  for  many  years,  and  before  the 
Royal  Commission l  he  coincided  with  all  others  who 
avowed  the  opinion  that  the  Academy  needed  radical  re- 
modelling to  make  the  constitution  of  the  Body,  framed 
a  hundred  years  before,  more  conformable  to  the  needs 
of  the  greatly  expanded  profession.  It  had  been  privately 
maintained  that  the  only  means  of  effecting  reform  was  to 
refuse  in  a  body  to  accept  Academy  honours  until  radical 
changes  had  been  conceded,  making  the  control  largely 
extra-mural,  and  that  such  influence  should  also  be 
exercised  over  the  work  of  the  hanging  Committee. 

On  my  return  from  Florence  in  1867  some  of  my 
friends,  knowing  that  I  was  going  abroad,  approached  me 
to  give  a  promise  not  to  accept  any  overtures  by  letter, 
unless  all  were  satisfied  with  the  Academy  pledges. 

1  "The  only  mode  I  could  surest "  (for  improvement)  "would  be  the 
introduction  of  some  element  from  without.  ...  I  do  not  see  its  influence 
on  our  architecture — our  street  architecture,  our  fashions,  or  our  taste  in 
general,  in  any  way  whatever.  The  only  national  school  which  has  ^rown 
up  at  all,  has  i^rown  up  outside  the  Academy,  and  indeed  in  opposition  to 
it — that  is  the  water-colour  school  ;  and  the  only  definite  reform  movement 
(which  the  Pre-Raphaelite  school  may  be  called)  was  certainly  not  stimulated 
by  the  Royal  Academy,  and  even  met  with  opposition  from  it"  (Extracts, 
Report  of  Roia/  Commission,  1^63). 


ix        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     249 

In  Italy  three  months  later  I  received  news  that 
many  of  these  had  accepted  the  overtures  of  the  Academy 
to  become  members,  and  that  they  were  now  satisfied  that 
all  matters  would  be  reformed  exactly  as  they  should  be. 
Brown,  Rossetti,  Burne-Jones,  and  a  few  others  were  still 
deaf  to  the  voice  of  the  charmer.  On  my  return  to 
England  in  1871,  Millais  said  he  was  able  to  promise  that 
if  I  would  become  a  candidate  for  the  Academy,  I  should 
be  forthwith  elected.  He  again  referred  to  the  advantages 
of  membership  in  participation  of  the  sale  of  works  of  art 
to  the  Chantrey  Fund  soon  falling  into  the  hands  of  the 
Body,  but  I  would  not  change  my  course. 

In  the  report  of  my  evidence  before  the  Commission 
it  may  be  seen  that  I  gave,  as  an  instance  of  injustice  on 
the  part  of  the  hanging  Committee,  the  unfavourable 
manner  in  which  Leighton's  pictures  had  been  placed  in 
the  previous  Exhibition.1 

1  "Without  referring  at  all  to  the  case  of  a  person  with  the  same  views  of 
art  as  myself,  I  may  mention  Mr.  Leighton,  a  man  who  paints  in  a  totally 
different  way  from  myself,  and  to  whom  I  certainly  think  injustice  is  done  in 
the  Academy.  It  seems  to  me  that  frequently  his  pictures  have  been  put  in 
places  where  they  have  not  attracted  the  attention  which  their  merits  would 
have  attracted  for  them  if  they  had  been  fairly  treated.  .  .  .  Two  years  ago, 
if  not  last  year,  his  pictures  were  certainly  put  in  places  which  prevented  the 
public  who  had  not  come  to  look  for  them  from  seeing  them  ;  I  think  that 
that  was  unjust,  and  in  talking  to  some  Academicians  about  it,  I  found  that 
they  had  what  was  really  a  conscientious  prejudice  against  his  work  ;  and  I 
think  that  if  Mr.  Leighton  goes  on  exhibiting  for  three  or  four  years  they  will 
find  that,  although  he  paints  in  a  different  way  from  them,  he  is  a  man  of 
the  utmost  importance,  and  they  will  be  glad  to  have  him  as  a  member  ;  but 
it  would  be  no  advantage  to  him  then  to  be  made  a  member,  he  would  already 
have  established  himself  in  the  minds  of  the  public.  I  have  noticed  many 
examples  of  the  same  kind.  I  only  mention  Mr.  Leighton  lest  it  should  seem 
I  was  making  a  vague  remark"  (Extracts,  Report  of  Roval  Commission,  1863). 


CHAPTER    X 

1865-1869 

Reason  cannot  show  itself  more  reasonable  than  to  leave  reasoning 
on  things  above  reason. — SIR  PHILIP  SIDNEY. 

MY  friend  the  Rev.  W.  J.  Beamont,  Fellow  of  Trinity 
College,  Cambridge,  had  been  appointed  vicar  of  the 
Church  of  St.  Michael  and  All  Angels  in  that  city,  and  as 
holder  of  the  benefice  endowed  by  Hervey  de  Stanton, 
Chancellor  of  the  Exchequer  to  Edward  II.,  was  wishful 
that  I  should  decorate  and  paint  the  interior. 

I  made  several  visits  to  Cambridge  to  consider  and 
consult  about  the  work,  but  I  could  not  leave  off  my 
pressing  paintings  in  hand  ;  indeed  I  was  not  called  upon 
to  do  so  until  funds  should  be  forthcoming  from  the 
public  ;  so,  except  some  superintendence  of  the  flat  colour- 
ing of  the  side  aisles,  nothing  further  was  done  to  carry- 
out  Beamont's  purpose,  and  my  affairs  being  now  such 
that  I  could  go  back  to  the  East,  I  did  so,  hoping  to  take 
up  the  church  decoration  on  my  return. 

There  was  strong  reason  for  deliberation  before 
deciding  on  the  work  in  the  weather-beaten  condition  of 
its  walls.  To  the  north  and  south  of  the  chancel  were 
two  suitable  spaces  for  figure  subjects,  and  at  the  end  of 
the  north  aisle  a  large  surface  offered  a  perfect  place  for  a 
picture.  I  decided  that  the  first  two  might  be  used  for 
companion  subjects,  and  the  third  be  treated  with  an 
independent  story,  while  the  walls  above  the  arches  of  the 


CH.X   PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     251 

nave  should  have  angelic  figures  to  ornament  them. 
Before  beginning  work,  some  expedient  had  to  be  found 
for  drying  the  present  walls,  and  for  placing  external 
cement  to  prevent  the  damp  from  penetrating.  The 
north  and  south  aisles  were  to  be  decorated  with  orna- 


DKSIGN     FOR     I.KCTKRN,    CXMBRIDfiK. 


mental  designs.  For  the  north  chancel  wall,  I  thought 
out  the  subjects  of  Michael  and  his  host  warring  in 
heaven  against  the  devil  and  his  angels,  all  deformed  by 
expressions  of  different  vices  and  supported  by  monsters 
of  extinct  type,  to  indicate  that  the  instincts  of  primeval 
rapacity,  which  had  been  justified  in  the  condition  of  the 
early  world,  were  not  then  vices,  but  that  in  higher  life 
organisation  thev  became  so.  On  the  south  the  same 


252         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

defeated  crew  was  to  be  shown  in  the  sky  holding  beautiful 
masks  before  their  faces,  striving  to  entice  the  regard  of 
fathers  and  mothers,  youths,  maidens,  and  children,  as 
they  were  led  up  to  the  altar  of  self-sacrifice  erected  by 
the  Founder. 

It  was  part  of  my  purpose  although  I  did  not  reveal 
it,  to  paint  as  the  Founder  whose  portrait  was  not  pre- 
served, my  friend  the  vicar,  a  man  of  saintly  countenance 
and  bearing.  I  prepared  some  devices  for  decoration, 
which  I  determined  should  be  absolutely  new  in  character, 
but  for  these  the  walls  were  not  ready,  and  I  have  never 
made  use  of  them. 

Ah  !  if  I  permitted  myself  to  linger  over  the  pastures 
of  personal  romance  which  the  members  of  our  community 
traversed,  how  much  greater  would  be  the  gleanings  of 
human  interest  I  could  bring  with  me  ;  but  the  sweet 
delirium,  the  trials  and  the  rewards  of  innocent  affection 
are  the  private  treasures  of  a  man,  and  no  result  but  the 
satisfaction  of  impertinent  curiosity  could  be  gained  were 
I  to  dilate  upon  these  phases  of  the  lives  of  men  prominent 
in  our  movement.  I  have  avoided  speaking  of  such 
experiences,  except  where  the  barrier  of  what  to  me  would 
have  been  sacred  privacy  has  been  already  overstepped, 
leaving  inaccuracies  to  be  corrected.  Respecting  thus  the 
sacredness  of  private  life  in  others,  I  claim  it  for  myself, 
however  much  at  some  points  this  book  may  seem  of  the 
nature  of  an  autobiography. 

It  was  at  this  time  that  I  married  Miss  Waugh. 

*#*••*•*•*• 

There  had  been  substantial  reasons  for  my  long  delay  in 
returning  to  the  East,  in  the  fact  that  family  claims  made 
the  task  of  amassing  means  a  protracted  one,  for  I  had  to 
accept  the  lesson  of  my  experiences  with  the  Temple 
picture  and  come  to  the  conclusion  that  I  must  not  go 
without  sufficient  funds  to  bring  my  new  picture  to  a 
complete  end. 

I  explained  to  a  practical  business  friend  my  prudential 
needs  for  delaying  my  return  to  Syria  ;  he  counselled 


x         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     253 

me  how  to  improve  my  position  by  change  in  investments, 
and  this  advice  I  followed. 

Another  consideration  was  to  advance  my  sister  to  a 
state  of  proficiency  in  which  she  could  proceed  without 


MY    WIFE,    FANNY    HOLMAX    HUNT. 


help.  I  had  lately  designed  for  her  a  picture  of  pigeons 
from  an  incident  I  had  seen  in  a  dovecot  during  a  storm 
of  rain,  and  this,  by  dint  of  my  daily  attention,  was  now 
advancing. 

During  my  absence  in  the  country,  I  found  my  sister 
had  grown  tired  of  the  pigeon  picture  and  had  given  it 


254         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

up  ;  it  was  not  half  completed,  and  this  half  was  nearly 
all  by  my  own  hand.  The  dovecot  was  still  in  my 
garden,  all  arrangements  I  had  made  for  carrying  out 
the  picture  were  at  hand,  together  with  the  pigeons,  and 
it  seemed  foolish  to  throw  the  work  away,  so  I  decided 
to  give  the  necessary  time  for  its  completion,  and  this 
delayed  me  a  few  months. 

Walking,  one  morning  in  March  1866,  from  Pad- 
dington  to  my  house  at  Campden  Hill,  I  saw  in  the 
distance  a  youth  come  out  of  a  house  in  Park  Place, 
holding  his  hands  to  his  head  and  swaying  his  body  to 
and  fro  as  he  walked  across  to  the  opposite  pavement. 
It  was  evident  that  he  was  in  distress.  Hastening  for- 
ward, I  discovered  that  it  was  Fred  Walker,  and  saw  that 
he  was  suffering  sore  tribulation  of  mind.  I  approached, 
he  clutched  my  wrist,  and  when  1  said,  "  What  is  it,  my 
dear  fellow  ?  "  he  groaned,  "'O  God,  O  God,  what  can  1 
do  !  "  He  looked  at  me  now  with  fresh  recognition, 
revealing  that  he  had  been  scarcely  conscious  who  I  was, 
and  added,  "  My  brother  has  just  this  moment  died  ;  he 
had  been  ailing  a  long  while,  and  we  had  been  sitting  up 
with  him.  I  had  his  hand  in  mine,  and  gradually  found 
it  was  no  longer  his — he  was  dead— and  I  have  come  out 

O 

to  breathe  ;  when  I  go  back  it  will  be  to  find  him  still 
Iving  dead.  What  can  I  do  ?"  I  asked  if  I  could  effect 

/          O 

any  good  by  coming  in.  "  Oh  no,  don't  come,  it  would 
harass  my  mother  and  sisters."  I  reluctantly  parted  from 
him,  and  afterwards  I  scarcely  saw  him  again  in  any  way 
worth  recording,  owing  to  my  long  life  abroad. 

Soon  after  this  there  was  a  disquieting  panic  in  the 
City,  and  one  morning,  taking  up  The  Times,  1  read  with 
dismay  that  a  bank  in  which  I  held  shares  had  stopped 
payment,  while  another  business  with  the  same  directors 
was  in  as  much  discredit  as  the  bank  itself,  so  that  the 
shares  of  both  were  less  than  valueless.  1  had  to  raise 
money  by  selling  other  property  ;  so  after  all  I  had  to 
carry  out  my  plans  with  no  surer  provision  for  uninter- 
rupted progress  in  the  East  than  I  had  had  before. 


.  sj* lite/fin   a.nd  Ssir.  pt>t   trj  .  J/iiAiA, . 


x         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      255 

Meantime  the  strict  principle  upon  which  1  worked 
was  commented  upon  by  each  in  his  particular  temper. 
Mr.  Lee,  the  head  of  a  popular  school  in  London, 
chatting  with  his  elder  student  class,  said  :  "  Holman 
Hunt  is  so  superlatively  conscientious  that  were  he 
painting  a  picture  in  which  everton  toffee  had  to  be 
introduced,  he  would  never  be  satisfied  unless  he  went 
to  Everton  to  paint  it,  in  order  to  make  sure  of  repre- 
senting the  purest  example  of  the  article  under  best  local 
conditions."  Such  comments  were  harmlessly  amusing. 

We  started  in  August.  At  Marseilles,  where  I  was 
intending  to  take  the  boat  to  Alexandria,  I  learnt  that 
quarantine  was  established  on  account  of  the  cholera,  but 
the  secretary  of  the  P.  and  O.  assured  me  that  the  next 
departing  boat  would  probably  be  allowed  to  enter  Alex- 
andria with  a  clean  bill  of  health  ;  we  waited  for  this.  In 
the  meantime  there  were  mournful  crowds  in  the  streets 
following  the  funeral  processions,  and  the  people  brought 
out  their  furniture,  making  bonfires  of  it.  The  next 
steamer  from  Egypt  brought  news  that  no  boat  from 
Marseilles  would  yet  be  allowed  to  enter.  Accordingly 
we  proceeded  over  the  Maritime  Alps  for  Leghorn, 
whence  we  heard  it  was  possible  to  reach  Egypt  -viii 
Malta.  We  rested  a  night  at  Florence,  intending  to 
continue  the  next  morning,  but  learning  that  intercourse 
with  Egypt  was  stopped,  we  had  no  choice  for  the  present 
but  to  remain  in  Florence. 

As  it  had  been  overruled  (it  I  may  make  use  of  so 
obsolete  an  expression)  that  I  should  remain  in  Florence, 
I  at  once  set  to  work  on  a  design  of  "  Isabella  mourning 
over  her  Basil  Pot."  I  took  a  studio,  the  best  I  could 

find,  and  started  on  the  work. 

•*•*•#•*  &  #• 

In  September  of  the  next  year  I  returned  to  England 
with  my  motherless  child.  My  picture  was  bought  by 
Mr.  Gambart  and  exhibited  by  itself,  and  an  engraving 
was  made  of  it  by  Blanchard.  It  was  now  that  the 
Athenaeum  Club,  to  which  1  owe  much  of  life's  friendship 


256         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

since,  did  me  the  honour  to  elect  me  under  Rule  II.,  one 
which  I  gratefully  appreciated. 

Staying  in  England  for  a  few  months,  I  enjoyed  the 
society  of  many  old  friends.  Charles  Collins  kept  me  in 
touch  with  the  Dickens  family.  Dickens'  country  retreat 
was  a  comfortable  home,  with  a  declining  lawn  overlook- 
ing the  Medway,  the  old  castle,  the  bridge,  and  the 
undulating  sweep  of  hills  which  led  towards  the  sea. 
There  were  still  many  peaceful  sweet  days  in  store  for 
the  family  in  this  house  ;  but  when,  worn  out  with 
unceasing  labour,  he  consulted  his  doctor,  he  learned 
that  the  day  had  come  for  him  to  begin  the  last  chapter 
of  his  life.  He  thereupon  ransacked  every  cabinet, 
cupboard,  chest,  and  long  -  neglected  recess,  collecting 
records  of  relations,  friends,  and  acquaintances,  and 
possibly  enemies,  and  consigned  them  to  the  peace-making 
flames.  A  large  proportion  of  these  letters  were  from 
men  of  illustrious  name,  endeared  over  land  and  sea  as 
household  names,  but  he  sent  them — the  laughter,  the 
tears,  the  confidence,  the  blessings,  the  cursings,  and  the 
idle  words — as  a  holocaust  to  the  Father  of  the  dead  and 
the  living,  and  so  put  an  end  to  many  sore  revelations 
made  by  the  writers  only  for  the  passing  hour. 

I  returned  to  Florence  to  complete  the  monument  I 
had  begun  to  my  wife,  and  in  the  meanwhile,  as  my  health 
required  me  to  live  out  of  the  city,  I  went  up  to  Fiesole, 
where  I  painted  a  damsel  as  a  Tuscan  straw- plaiter  of 
the  type  of  gentle  features  peculiar  to  the  cities  of  the 
Appenines,  such  as  Perugino  loved  to  picture.  I  also 
executed  a  few  water-colour  drawings  from  the  hills,  and 
so  kept  myself  in  the  pure  air. 

In  Florence,  by  the  kindness  of  an  American  family 
there,  I  painted  one  of  the  daughters  as  "  Bianca." 

I  commenced  this  picture  in  tempera,  tracing  out  the 
design  and  light  and  shade,  as  many  of  the  old  masters 
did,  in  the  end  adding  the  finishing  painting  in  oil 
varnish. 

While  I  was  waiting  for  the  marble  mason   to  finish 


x         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     257 

the  work  with  which  I  had  entrusted  him,  I  went  to  visit 
my  old  Jerusalem  friend,  Dr.  Sim,  then  established  at 
Naples,  and  stayed  for  two  or  three  weeks  at  Salerno  and 
Ravello.  There  I  became  acquainted  with  Professor 
Salasaro,  who  had  made  interesting  researches  on  early 
Christian  art  in  that  neighbourhood,  and  who  showed  me 
altar-pieces  in  subterranean  churches  of  the  fourth  and 
fifth  centuries. 

On  my  return  to  Florence,  to  obey  the  desire  of  Mr. 
Beamont,  I  drew  a  design  of  a  lectern  for  the  church  at 
Cambridge,  and  contracted  with  an  artisan  to  make 
this  in  walnut  wood,  and  to  inlay  it  with  ivory  and  dark 
wood.  But  Before  the  desk  had  been  shaped  the  sad 
news  came  that  my  dear  friend  had  died,  on  his  return 
from  Mount  Athos,  of  fever  contracted  while  travelling 
there  ;  I  therefore  cancelled  the  order.  The  subject 
which  I  had  conceived  for  the  wall  at  the  eastern  end 
of  the  north  aisle  of  the  church  was  the  Holy  Family 
on  their  flight  into  Egypt  resting  in  the  night,  with  St. 
Joseph  striking  a  light  with  flint  and  steel,  while  around, 
St.  Michael  and  his  company  standing  on  guard,  and 
children  as  angels  were  attending  and  bringing  food  to 
the  resting  fugitives.  I  had  conceived  this  treatment  to 
be  altogether  my  own,  but  going  over  the  Uffizi  Gallery  I 
came  upon  a  little  picture  by  Annibale  Caracci  of  the 
Holy  Family  in  flight,  with  cherub  angels  bending  down 
to  them  the  branches  of  trees  bearing  fruit.  I  had  for- 
gotten that  this  story  was  told  in  the  Gospel  of  Nico- 
demus.  As  the  intention  of  painting  the  church  at 
Cambridge  had  now  come  to  an  end,  I  had  not  to  consider 
what  my  discovery  of  the  unoriginality  of  the  idea  would 
determine  me  to  do  for  the  wall-painting  in  question, 
so  I  gave  no  time  to  altering  this  design,  as  otherwise 
I  should  have  done.  As  the  marble-carver  now  made  it 
clear  that  his  chiselling  of  the  monument  to  my  wife 
would  never  be  brought  to  a  conclusion,  I  took  up  his 
tools  and  finished  the  work,  being  then  ready  to  leave  the 
city  of  flowers,  which  had  been  so  sad  a  resting-place  to 

VOL.    II  S 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


me.  Occasionally  I  made  hasty  sketches  on  foreign  paper 
for  my  infant  son  at  home  ;  notwithstanding  their  slight- 
ness  they  may  stand  as  records  of  passing  interest. 

At  this  time  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Combe  came  to  Florence, 
but  the  dangerous  illness  of  my  friend  Tupper,  who  was  in 
Florence,  prevented  me  from  following  them  to  Rome. 

It  was  not  until  the  summer  of  1869  that  I  was  at  last 
able  to  overcome  evil  Fate  and  start  for  the  East. 

During  my  two  years'  detention  in  Italy,   I  had  not 


managed  to  visit  Venice,  and  as  I  had  never  seen  the 
treasures  of  the  Adriatic  city  I  resolved  to  spend  a  week 
or  two  more  on  the  journey  by  going  there,  notwith- 
standing that  it  was  not  the  season  most  approved  by 
visitors. 

There  were  indeed  few  English  people  in  the  hotels, 
but  after  the  first  day  of  my  arrival,  it  was  my  surprising 
fortune  to  run  against  Ruskin  in  the  piazza  ;  he  had  only 
just  returned,  after  over  twenty  years'  absence.  A 
complication  of  circumstances  had  made  me  of  late  years 
unable  to  keep  up  my  close  intercourse  with  him.  On 
seeing  the  author  of  Modern  Painters,  and  hearing  from 


x         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      259 

him  that  he  had  come  to  stay  in  the  city,  I  very  earnestly 
observed  that  I  had  often  desired  to  resume  our  intimacy, 
and  that  no  place  in  the  world  could  be  so  fitting  and 
delightful  to  meet  him  in  as  Venice,  for  I,  like  many 
others,  had  first  conceived  a  love  of  its  precious  possessions 
from  his  description  of  its  paintings  and  architecture, 
till  then  but  little  valued.  I  had  ever  since  dreamed 
of  the  works  he  had  described,  and  now,  beyond  all 
possible  expectation,  I  was  to  see  them  for  the  first  time 
in  his  company.  He  accepted  my  tribute  in  silence, 
observing  that  he  should  enjoy  my  company  at  all  places 
where  the  precious  pictures  by  Bellini,  Carpaccio, 
Giorgione,  Titian,  Tintoretto,  and  Veronese  were  collected, 
and  accordingly  we  went  straightway  by  gondola  to  the 
landing  steps  leading  to  the  Church  of  San  Rocco. 

Ruskin  was  at  that  time  a  man  of  nearly  six  feet  in 
height,  but  of  great  spareness  of  limb,  which  his  tailor 
only  partially  succeeded  in  concealing  ;  the  colour  of  his 
hair  was  rusty,  his  eyes  were  bluish-grey,  his  complexion 
pink  in  hue,  and  his  skin  transparent,  showing  violet  veins 
about  the  eyes,  but  the  delicacy  of  the  tint  of  his  visage 
was  in  part  subdued  by  sun  freckles.  He  was  faultlessly 
groomed,  and,  despite  his  soft  felt  hat,  was  not  at  all 
costumed  like  an  art  specialist,  no  passers-by  stared  at  him 
more  than  they  would  have  done  at  any  other  fores tiere. 

Entering  the  door  of  the  church  dedicated  to  San 
Rocco,  we  found  the  paintings  designed  to  illustrate  the 
virtues  of  the  saint,  so  far  effaced  by  time  and  defaced  by 
restoration  that  the  full  perfection  of  these  noble  creations 
was  only  slowly  realised.  The  other  pictures  illustrated 
acts  of  mercy  by  Our  Lord,  but  these  were  disappointing 
in  comparison  to  the  full  richness  of  the  small  original 
designs  on  canvas  by  Tintoretto,  existing  in  English 
private  collections.  We  were  the  more  glad  to  find  that 
on  the  paintings  in  the  Scuola  di  San  Rocco,  representing 
the  history  of  the  Virgin,  time  alone  had  laid  his  hand, 
shown  in  the  effects  of  damp  and  too  great  dryness  in 
turn. 


260         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

The  first  picture  that  we  stood  before  was  the 
"  Annunciation,"  the  dilapidation  and  ruin  represented  in 
the  dismantled  house  seemed  greater  than  I  had  imagined 
it  to  be,  from  the  description  by  my  present  companion, 
which  I  had  read  more  than  twenty  years  ago  ;  but  the 
image  raised  in  my  mind  by  the  "Oxford  Graduate,"  and 
retained  ever  since,  was  not  so  different  from  what  I  saw 
before  me,  as  conjured-up  scenes  derived  second-hand 
often  prove  to  be  at  sight  of  the  original. 

One  vital  question  arose,  was  the  symbolism  as 
described  by  Ruskin  fanciful?  Undoubtedly,  here  were 
ruins  of  a  stately  house  no  longer  affording  shelter  to 
indwellers  ;  no  protecting  or  habitable  domicile  for  the 
lone  damsel  within  ;  she  dwells  amid  the  ugly  broken- 
down  bricks,  crumbled  stones,  and  unseemly  mortar. 
But  in  the  midst  of  this  cheerlessness  there  lies  the  well- 
shaped  block  with  mason's  square  and  plummet  at  its 
side  :  this  is  an  exception  to  the  prevailing  marks  of 
decay,  and  who  could  read  the  story  of  the  picture  and 
resist  the  suggestion  that  this  was  "  The  stone  which  the 
builders  rejected,  which  has  become  the  headstone  of  the 
corner."  Recalling  quatrocento  and  early  cinquecento 
pictures  dealing  with  the  same  subject,  representing  the 
Virgin  in  a  stately  palace,  perfect  and  well-ordered,  there 
could  be  no  doubt  that  Tintoretto  had  the  purpose  to 
suggest  the  desolation  that  had  come  upon  the  existing 
Israelitish  Church,  and  its  replacement  by  a  new  edifice. 
The  Virgin  is  at  her  devotions,  and  the  Archangel  Gabriel 
is  entering  on  wing  through  a  dismantled  lattice.  When 
language  was  not  transcendental  enough  to  complete  the 
meaning  of  a  revelation,  symbols  were  relied  upon  for 
heavenly  teaching,  and  familiar  images,  chosen  from  the 
known,  were  made  to  mirror  the  unknown  spiritual  truth. 
The  forerunners  and  contemporaries  of  Tintoretto  had 
consecrated  the  custom,  to  which  he  gave  a  larger  value 
and  more  original  meaning.  How  far  such  symbolism 
is  warranted  depends  upon  its  unobtrusiveness  and  its 
restriction  within  limits  not  destroying  natural  beauty. 


x         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      261 

There  is  no  more  reason  why  the  features  belonging  to  a 
picture  should  be  distorted  for  the  purpose  of  such 
imaginative  suggestion  than  that  the  poet's  metaphors 
should  spoil  his  words  for  ordinary  uses  of  man. 
Tintoretto's  meaning  was  expressed  with  no  arbitrary 
or  unnatural  disturbance  of  the  truth,  indeed  there  was 
no  need  for  the  spectator  to  trouble  himself  with  its 
hidden  teaching  at  all.  In  the  case  of  this  picture  all 
that  could  be  objected  was  that  the  materials  needful 
for  the  preachment  were  somewhat  uncomely.  Delect- 
ability  should  certainly  be  a  preponderating  element  in 
every  work  of  art  ;  but  this  canvas  presented  only  the 
root  of  the  idea,  which  branched  out  into  infinite 
beauties  in  the  accompanying  series.  I  thought  what 
happiness  Tintoretto  must  have  felt  when  he  had  this 
illuminating  thought  presented  to  him,  and  of  his  joy  in 
carrying  it  out  on  canvas,  and  was  wondering  how  few 
were  the  men  who  had  pondered  over  the  picture  to  read 
it  thoroughly,  until  in  fulness  of  time  the  decipherer  came 
and  made  it  clear. 

This  decipherer,  when  he  spoke,  made  it  apparent 
that  his  mind  was  dwelling  more  on  the  arrangement 
of  lines  in  the  design  and  the  technique  displayed  in 
the  handling,  than  on  the  mysteries  that  he  had  inter- 
preted five  and  twenty  years  before.  He  ended,  in 
his  most  punctuated  phraseology  :  "  Now,  my  dear 
Holman,  we  will  see  what  I  wrote  about  it  twenty  or 
more  years  ago.  I  have  not  read  a  word  of  it  since. 
I  have  no  doubt  that  it  will  be  marked  by  much  boyish 
presumption  and  by  inflated  expression,  I  warn  you  of 
this,  but  it  may  be  interesting  to  compare  it  with  our 
present  view,  at  least  my  own  ;  so  I  will  call  my 
man." 

The  valet  waited  at  the  door  with  a  hitherto  unnoticed 
volume  of  the  original  edition  of  Modern  Painters.  Ruskin 
beckoned  him,  and  opening  the  book  at  the  passage 
already  marked,  he  began  deliberately  and  with  pause  to 
read  to  the  end  of  it  :  — 


262         PRE-RAPHAELIT1SM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Severe  would  be  the  shock  and  painful  the  contrast  if  we  could 
pass  in  an  instant  from  that  pure  vision  l  to  the  wild  thought  of 
Tintoretto.  For  not  in  meek  reception  of  the  adoring  messenger, 
but  startled  by  the  rush  of  his  horizontal  and  rattling  wings,  the 
Virgin  sits  not  in  the  quiet  loggia,  not  by  the  green  pasture  of  the 
restored  soul,  but  houseless  under  the  shelter  of  a  palace  vestibule 
ruined  and  abandoned,  with  the  noise  of  the  axe  and  the  hammer 
in  her  ears,  and  the  tumult  of  a  city  round  about  her  desolation. 
The  spectator  turns  away  at  first,  revolted  from  the  central  object 
of  the  picture  forced  painfully  and  coarsely  forward,  a  mass  of 
shattered  brickwork  with  the  plaster  mildewed  away  from  it  and 
the  mortar  mouldering  from  its  seams.  If  he  look  again,  either 
at  this  or  at  the  carpenter's  tools  beneath  it,  he  will  perhaps  see  in 
the  one  and  the  other  nothing  more  than  such  a  study  of  scene  as 
Tintoretto  could  but  too  easily  obtain  among  the  ruins  of  his  own 
Venice,  chosen  to  give  a  coarse  explanation  of  the  calling  and  the 
condition  of  the  husband  of  Mary.  But  there  is  more  meant  than 
this.  When  he  looks  at  the  composition  of  the  picture,  he  will 
find  the  whole  symmetry  of  it  depending  on  a  narrow  line  of 
light,  the  edge  of  a  carpenter's  square  which  connects  these  unused 
tools  with  an  object  at  the  top  of  the  brickwork,  a  white  stone, 
four  square,  the  corner-stone  of  the  old  edifice,  the  base  of  its 
supporting  column.  This  I  think  sufficiently  explains  the  typical 
character  of  the  whole.  The  ruined  house  is  the  Jewish  dispensa- 
tion ;  that  obscurely  arising  in  the  dawning  of  the  sky  is  the 
Christian  ;  but  the  corner-stone  of  the  old  building  remains, 
though  the  builder's  tools  lie  idle  beside  it,  and  the  stone  which 
the  builders  refused  is  become  the  headstone  of  the  corner. 

The  words  brought  back  to  my  mind  the  little 
bedroom,  twenty -two  years  since,  wherein  I  sat  till  the 
early  morning  reading  the  same  passage  with  marvel. 
When  Ruskin  had  closed  the  book,  he  began  :  "No,  there 
is  no  exaggeration  or  bombast  such  as  there  might  have 
been,  the  words  are  all  justified,  and  they  describe  very 
faithfully  the  character  of  the  picture,  I  am  well  content," 
and  he  gave  the  volume  back  to  his  man. 

He  passed  on  to  the  "  Adoration  of  the  Magi,"  to  the 
richly  poetic  "  Flight  into  Egypt,"  the  "  Baptism,"  stopping 
at  each  with  unabated  interest,  strolling  on  through  the 

1    Hv  Fra  An^elico/ 


x         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      263 

whole  series  of  works  in  the  lower  chamber.  At  each  we 
read  as  a  chorus  his  earlier  words,  and  he  again  said,  "  Yes, 
I  approve,"  and  indeed  there  was  good  reason  for  his 
contentment. 

In  ascending  the  stairs  we  observed  the  painting  by 
Titian  of  "The  Annunciation,"  rich  in  grace  and  beauty 
of  colour,  which  Ruskin  stayed  a  time  to  enjoy  ;  it  gave 
fairly  favourably  the  treatment  of  the  painters  of  the 
time,  from  which  the  picture  below  by  Tintoretto  was  a 
departure.  Some  of  the  paintings  on  the  ceiling  in  the 
hall  above  were  hard  to  see,  many,  from  damp,  had  the 
rich  original  colours  (particularly  of  some  pigment  which 
seemed  formerly  to  have  been  deep  blue)  blanched,  by 
which  the  harmony  of  the  whole  was  lost.  In  the 
chamber  at  the  end  on  the  left,  we  arrived  at  Tintoretto's 
"  Crucifixion  "  ;  this  more  than  warranted  all  of  Ruskin's 
enthusiasm  and  eloquence,  and  we  dwelt  upon  it  for  a  full 
hour  ere  the  Modern  Painters  was  called  into  requisi- 
tion. How  many,  I  thought,  would  envy  me  as  I 
listened  to  his  precise  and  emphatic  reading  of  the  ever 
memorable  passage  in  which  he  describes  this  picture,  and 
as  I  heard  him  sav,  "  No,  again  I  decide  that  what  I  wrote 

•    *  o 

in  past  years  is  well," — and  it  was  well  ! 

I  was  able,  before  we  left  this  picture,  to  point  out  to 
him  the  interesting  fact  that  the  painter  had  found  his 
canvas  at  the  left  hand  bottom  corner  damaged,  or  too 
restricted  for  his  design,  and  that  he  had  made  this  up  by 
unnailing  a  canvas  from  a  smaller  stretcher  and  fastening 
it,  with  its  nail  punctures  unconcealed,  on  to  the  larger 
canvas.  I  was  able  also  to  prove  the  fact  that  the  whole 
canvas  had  been  but  barely  primed  with  gesso,  and  that 
the  surface,  and,  therefore,  that  of  the  other  pictures  not 
so  accessible  to  close  examination,  had  been  at  first  painted 
in  tempera  medium,  and  this,  for  final  painting,  had  been 
floated  over  with  oil  varnish,  almost  certainly  of  amber,  and 
while  each  space  was  drying,  he  had  glazed  and  painted 
what  was  necessary  in  oil  colours.  Ruskin  seemed,  by  his 
surprised  present  enthusiasm,  never  before  to  have  noticed 


264         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

the   opposite   picture    of  "  Christ  brought  out  after   the 
Scourging." 

Our  tour  had  taken  us  the  whole  day,  and  I  went  back 
with  Ruskin  and  dined  at  Danielli's.  When  we  were 
alone  after  the  repast,  he  said  to  me  :  "  I  want  to  ask  you 
whether,  when  you  said  to  me  this  morning  that  you  were 
so  pleased  to  see  me,  you  merely  spoke  in  passing  com- 
pliment, or  with  serious  meaning?  " 

My  rejoinder  was,  "  What  would  make  you  doubt  that 
I  spoke  with  anything  but  deliberate  candour  ?  " 

"  Because,"  he  replied,  "  for  these  many  years,  if  you 
wanted  to  see  me,  Camberwell  not  being  many  miles  from 
Campden  Hill,  you  could  easily  have  come  to  me,  or 
asked  me  to  come  to  you,  and  you  have  not  done 
either." 

My  return  was,  "  My  dear  Ruskin,  you  know  there 
were  reasons  for  a  time  to  obstruct  our  intimacy,  but 
beyond  that  I  would  say,  you  always  seemed  to  me  to 
forget  that  every  man's  father  is  not  behind  him  with  a 
fortune  that  enables  him  to  do  what  he  would  with  his 
time  ;  with  me  there  were  few  days  that  I  could  do 
this,  yet  I  confess  that  I  might  of  late  have  stolen 
some  occasions  to  see  such  a  friend  as  you,  had  there 
not  been  further  difficulties  which  I  will  not  enter 
into." 

Ruskin  immediately  exclaimed  :  "  Tell  me.  I  do 
particularly  want  you  to  be  unreserved." 

So  I  continued  :  "  I  may  be  quite  wrong  in  my 
estimate  of  some  of  the  characters  who  formed  the  band 
of  men  you  had  about  you,  but  in  my  eyes  they  were  so 
distinctly  a  bar  to  me,  that,  had  you  been  the  Archangel 
Michael  himself,  these  satellites  would  have  kept  me 
away." 

He  received  this  uncharitable  utterance  with  a  few 
moments'  pause. 

"  You  are  quite  right,  Holman,  I  never  was  a  good 
judge  of  character,  and  I  have  had  some  most  objection- 
able people  about  me." 


x         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      265 

I  ventured,  "  I  observed  to-day,  Ruskin,  that  when 
we  were  dwelling  on  the  pictures,  your  interest  was  in 
the  aesthetic  qualities  of  the  works  alone.  Was  this 
because,  having  previously  dwelt  on  the  symbolism,  you 
felt  free  to  treat  of  the  painter  -  like  excellence  of 
Tintoretto's  labours  only?  " 

The  tacitly  established  unreserve  existing  between 
men,  who  venture  to  test  new  truths  that  offer  them- 
selves, by  the  world  is  not  always  understood,  some- 
times even  they  air  their  own  experimental  excursions 
into  space  with  arguments  that  exaggerate  the  real 
nature  of  their  convictions.  I  may,  however,  reveal 
the  frankness  with  which  Ruskin  and  I  conducted  our 
intercourse. 

He  replied,  "  Your  inquiry  brings  me  to  avow  what  I 
have  intended  to  tell  you,  as  touching  a  point  of  great 
importance  to  yourself.  I  am  led  to  regard  the  whole 
story  of  divine  revelation  as  a  mere  wilderness  of  poetic 
dreaming,  and,  since  it  is  proved  to  be  so,  it  is  time  that 
all  men  of  any  influence  should  denounce  the  superstition 
which  tends  to  destroy  the  exercise  of  reason.  Amongst 
the  chaotic  mass  there  are  exquisite  thoughts,  elevating 
aspirations,  and  poetic  mental  nourishment,  and  it  would 
be  a  pity  that  these  riches  should  be  lost  to  the  world.  I 
want  you,  who  have  done  a  deal  of  harm  by  your  works 
in  sanctifying  blind  beliefs,  to  join  with  me  and  others  to 
save  these  beautiful  fragments,  lest  the  vulgar,  when 
indignant  at  the  discovery  of  the  superstition,  should  in 
their  mad  fury  destroy  what  is  eternally  true  in  the 
beautiful  thoughts  with  that  which  is  false.  The  convic- 
tion that  I  have  arrived  at  leads  me  to  conclude  that  there 
is  no  Eternal  Father  to  whom  we  can  look  up,  that  man 
has  no  helper  but  himself.  I  confess  this  conclusion 
brings  with  it  great  unhappiness.  When  my  dear  mother 
is  in  sorrow  she  appeals  to  me,  and  I  exercise  my  power 
to  console  her,  and  when  my  valet  is  in  trouble,  I  can 
relieve  him.  You  must  admit,  Holman,  that  I  am  a 
kind-hearted  man,  and,  being  friendly  by  nature,  I  feel  my 


266         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

loneliness,   in  having  no  one  to  console   me    when  I  am 
overcome." 

"  But,  Ruskin,"  I  argued,  "  you  must  expect  me  to  be 
astonished  at  what  you  say.  I  am  not  frightened  at  your 
declaration  of  Atheism.  We  know  men  often  call  them- 
selves Atheists  from  a  conscientious  fastidiousness  which 
makes  them  over  scrupulous  about  terms,  while  in  all  their 
actions  they  acknowledge  Duty  ;  professing  believers 
may  prove  themselves  unbelievers  by  working  with  all 
their  might  to  '  circumvent  God  !  '  As  to  the  bible,  I 
am  perfectly  ready  to  admit  that  many  figures  of  speech, 
which  may  be  described  as  Orientalisms,  have  led  to 
misinterpretation  of  the  meaning.  The  evidence  of  the 
individuality  of  Christ  and  of  His  teaching  is  absolutely 
convincing  to  me,  there  is  record  in  the  early  books 
of  the  bible  of  the  advancing  teaching  of  prophets, 
without  which  Christ's  evangel  would  have  been  im- 
possible. So  far  the  revelation  is  established  in  my 
mind  ;  all  the  rest  is  extraneous  and  may  be  left  in 
suspense,  but  I  am  the  more  astounded  at  your  con- 
fession, because  I  remember  that  in  a  report  of  some 
address  you  made  quite  recently,  you  distinctly  illustrated 
the  service  to  the  world  of  belief  in  divine  governance, 
and  such  a  change  as  you  describe  in  yourself  can 
scarcely  have  come  about  since  then." 

He  replied,  "  When  first  I  was  shaken  in  my  faith, 
in  speaking  to  a  lady  whose  general  judgment  deserved 
the  greatest  respect,  I  declared  that  I  must  publish  my 
change  of  views  to  the  world.  She  restrained  me 
from  doing  so,  and  made  me  promise  not  to  act  on 
this  impulse  for  ten  years.  Being  afterwards  called 
upon  to  lecture,  I  had  to  debate  with  myself  in  what 
way  I  could  satisfy  the  demand  without  breaking  my 
compact,  and  I  was  Jed  to  allow  the  greatest  latitude 
to  the  possibility  that  my  new  views  might  not  be 
permanent.  It  was  wise  to  test  this  by  reverting  to 
my  earlier  theories,  and  I  therefore  determined  to  deliver 
one  of  my  old  lectures,  which,  when  written,  was  heart- 


x         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      267 

felt  and  thoroughly  conscientious  ;  the  report  of  this  was 
what  you  read." 

In  return  I  asked  :  "  Is  not  the  depression  of  mind 
you  lament  in  opposition  to  the  general  joyous  spirit  of 
Creation  ?  If  so,  may  it  not  be  wrong  ?  As  to  the 
question  of  the  existence  of  a  creative  mind  in  the  forma- 
tion of  the  universe,  it  seems  to  me  precisely  equivalent 
to  the  inquiry  whether  in  Tintoretto's  pictures  the  flax 
of  the  canvas,  the  gesso  and  the  glue  of  the  priming, 
the  delightful  forms  and  arrangement  traceable  on  the 
surface  came  there  by  a  happy  chance,  or  whether  all 
these  materials  were  brought  together  by  an  intelligent 
mind,  and  the  design  was  accomplished  by  wise  direction 
and  control.  The  conclusion  forced  on  the  mind  in 
the  case  of  a  painting  applies  also  to  the  creation  of  the 
Universe.  As  we  are  talking  about  this  artist,  do  you 
think  that  Tintoretto's  convictions  are  of  no  value  to  us, 
that  his  great  intelligence  was  deceiving  him,  that  all 
his  wrestlings  with  dead  indifference  on  the  part  of  the 
world  were  encouraged  by  delusions  ?  " 

Ruskm  replied  : — 

"  Tintoretto  did  not  believe  any  more  than  I  do  the 
fables  he  was  treating,  no  artist  in  illustrating  fairy 
stories  troubles  himself  about  the  substantiality  of  the 
fiction." 

"  Myths,"  I  argued,  "  are  of  two  kinds,  one  may  be 
ot  the  nature  of  a  parable  containing  a  never  dying 
truth,  others  are  mere  purposeless  imaginings.  The 
choice  of  Hercules  is  of  the  first  kind.  Its  purport 
gives  it  the  sacredness  which  nerved  the  artist  and  the 
poet  to  treat  it  as  the  mythic  stories  in  the  early  bible 
were  treated  ;  but  an  idle  fable,  such  as  the  award  of 
the  apple  by  Paris,  can  only  be  taken  for  an  exercise 
for  aesthetic  decoration  ;  work  of  this  kind  always  bears 
proof  that  the  artist  played  with  an  intangible  dream  ; 
the  idea  is  a  mere  gossamer,  never  watered  with  the 
sweat,  the  tears,  and  blood  of  men.  Tintoretto  treats 
his  subjects  in  a  spirit  which  bears  the  stamp  of  his  having 


268         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

given  his  whole  heart  and  soul  to  them.  Working 
in  the  first  half  of  the  cinquecento,  he  accepted  without 
question  many  legends,  which  in  this  day  may  be  looked 
upon  as  fables,  but  the  fundamental  idea  of  the 
government  of  the  world  by  the  powers  of  good  over- 
coming evil  was  to  him,  I  am  sure,  an  idea  founded 
upon  a  rock  ;  for,  while  some  pictures  of  his  con- 
temporaries bear  the  stamp  of  superficial  thought,  his 
religious  pictures  give  evidence  of  conviction  that  the 
more  the  ideas  he  treats  are  realised,  the  more  the 
eternal  truth  will  appear  ;  every  line  he  drew  bore 
evidence  of  unfaltering  sincerity.  The  testimony  of 
science  concurs  with  that  of  the  bible  that  there  is 
continual  trending  to  perfection,  it  is  traceable  in  geo- 
logical records,  and  in  human  affairs  also  the  movement 
must  be  recognised,  the  better  ever  supplanting  the  less 
good.  No  sacrifice  of  existing  peace  seems  too  costly  for 
this  advance." 

We  continued  our  talk  at  intervals,  illustrating  our 
arguments  by  reference  to  the  teaching  of  Plato  and  the 
example  of  Socrates,  adducing  also  the  effect  of  Atheism 
upon  the  world  at  the  decline  of  the  Roman  Empire. 
We  discussed  the  teaching  of  the  French  philosophers 
and  of  their  followers  who  exaggerated  their  tenets 
and  assisted  in  the  mad  orgy  of  blood  which  followed 
in  the  French  Revolution. 

One  day  we  went  into  the  Church  of  the  Salute 
and  saw  in  the  sacristy  Tintoretto's  great  picture  of  "  The 
Marriage  in  Cana,"  which  brought  to  my  mind  Leonardo's 
"  Last  Supper,"  and  the  contrast  between  the  intellects  of 
the  two  painters.  His  appreciation  of  the  nobility  of 
the  history  was  unboundedly  evidenced  by  each  artist, 
but  Da  Vinci  expressed  his  feeling  by  incessant  effort 
to  represent  the  highest  type  of  humanity  ;  he  relied 
upon  the  power  of  god -like  elevation  of  form  and 
bearing  to  take  captive  the  mind  of  the  spectator, 
disdaining  the  adjuncts  of  aureole  around  the  head  even 
of  Christ  Himself.  It  was  a  startling  determination 


x         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      269 

of  intellectual  wilfulness  when  the  Reformation  was 
battering  in  every  quarter  at  the  gates  of  the  visible 
Church,  and  the  Inquisition  was  exerting  its  power  to 
suppress  the  exercise  of  reason. 

Tintoretto  was  not  an  idealist  in  the  form  of  the 
beings  he  portrayed  ;  he  drew  with  unmistakable  mastery 
the  men  and  women  he  came  upon  in  the  market-place 
as  perfect  enough  to  act  in  his  dramas.  Standing 
before  his  pictures  I  was  somewhat  reminded  of  Hogarth's 
casual  apology  that  the  persons  he  painted  were  not  those 
of  the  original  history,  but  players  enacting  their  parts. 
Perhaps  Tintoretto  thought  that  sublime  form  and  aspect 
given  to  the  Messiah  and  his  friends  might  prevent 
ordinary  men  from  thinking  that  the  example  of  the 
sinless  One  could  be  followed  by  themselves,  creatures 
of  common  clay  as  they  well  knew  themselves  to  be. 
Uncelestial  as  the  features  often  were,  the  figures  were 
crowned  by  a  halo,  and  the  painter  was  so  practised  in 
aiding  the  spirituality  of  the  scene  by  this  means  that 
the  decorative  treatment  contributed  to  the  general  glory 
of  the  effect  of  the  picture. 

Tintoretto's  method  certainly  had  in  its  off-hand edness 
the  advantage  of  multiplying  his  works  a  hundredfold  in 
comparison  to  that  pursued  by  Leonardo.  I  say  this 
without  subscribing  to  the  modern  theory  that  Leonardo's 
existing  productions  are  as  few  as  they  are  often  now 
stated  to  be. 

On  entering  the  nave  ot  the  empty  church,  observing 
that  the  marble  pillars  of  a  side  altar  were  rich  in  embedded 
shell  fossils,  Ruskin  walked  up  the  steps,  and  pointed  this 
out  as  an  evidence  of  the  much  greater  antiquity  of  the 
earth  than  the  bible  records  state. 

"  But,  Ruskin,"  I  argued,  "  surely  this  question  is  not  a 
new  one.  Most  of  us  considered  such  facts  in  our  teens." 

But  he,  ignoring  my  remark,  continued  to  urge 
importance  in  the  argument  that  this  marble,  though  not 
of  igneous  formation,  must  have  been  many  millenniums 
anterior  to  man's  appearance  on  earth. 


270         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

I  rallied  him  as  having  been  brought  up  amongst  kt  the 
strictest  sect  of  the  Pharisees,"  and  taught  that  to  doubt 
literal  interpretation  was  a  sin  which  had  sheltered  him 
for  a  time,  but  caused  the  truth  to  be  more  destructive 
when  it  burst  through  this  defence. 

As  we  were  speaking  the  sacristan  appeared,  walking 
steadily  in  our  direction.  He  never  diverged  in  his  pro- 
gress until  he  arrived  opposite  us,  and  then  addressed  us 
with,  "  Signori,  it  is  not  permitted  for  any  person  not  a 
priest  to  ascend  the  altar  steps,  and  I  must  ask  you  to 
show  your  reverence  by  descending." 

We  both  came  down  to  the  lower  level,  and  then 
Ruskin  replied  to  the  verger  thus  :  "  It  is  now  over  twenty 
years  since  I  was  in  Venice,  and  your  words  to  us  are  the 
first  signs  I  have  found  in  this  day  of  due  veneration  for 
the  claims  of  unseen  authority.  I  do  not  pretend  to  be 
a  Christian,  I  speak  to  you  simply  as  a  philosopher,  and 
as  such  I  am  pained  to  see  how  much  the  feeling  of  rever- 
ence has  ceased  to  exist  during  my  absence.  Everywhere 
I  find  indifference  to  any  pure  form  of  municipal  life,  the 
streets  and  the  canals  are  often  foul,  and  when  there  has 
been  any  fancy  on  the  part  of  business  people  to  make 
your  city  unlike  what  it  was,  and  what  it  should  ever  be, 
and  like  to  others  which  can  never  have  your  exceptional 
advantages,  churches  and  the  oldest  historic  buildings  have 
been  cut  away  and  destroyed,  and  no  one  has  raised  a 
voice  to  prevent  the  desecration." 

The  sacristan  looked  bewildered,  while  Ruskin  con- 
tinued, "  To  you  I  owe  a  tribute  of  sincere  recognition, 
sir  ;  I  thank  you  very  deeply  for  having  told  us  that  we 
were  forgetting  the  sanctity  of  the  spot  where  we  were 
standing,  and  in  bidding  us  descend.  We  shall  never 
forget  to  pay  respect  in  our  memory  to  your  sense  of  duty, 
and  your  obedience  to  it."  The  sacristan  gaped  amazement. 

There  were  but  few  places  of  interest  that  we  did  not 
visit  together,  often  sighing  over  the  changes  of  modern 
days  that  we  came  across,  but  ever  delighting  in  the 
treasures  that  remained. 


x         PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      271 

Ten  years  later  I  met  him  in  London.  We  had  been 
dwelling  upon  a  picture  for  which  he  expressed  great 
enthusiasm.  As  we  were  driving  together,  he  said,  "One 
reason  I  so  much  value  the  picture  we  have  seen  is  that  it 
carries  emphatic  teaching  of  the  immortality  of  the  soul.'1 

"What,"  I  exclaimed,  "  I  was  supposing  that  you  were 
approving  of  it  for  its  artistic  qualities  of  design,  colour, 
and  handling  ;  for  you  must  remember  that  when  we  last 
met  you  declared  that  you  had  given  up  all  belief  in 
immortality." 

"  I  remember  well,"  Ruskin  replied  ;  "  what  has  mainly 
caused  the  change  in  my  views  is  the  unanswerable  evidence 
of  spiritualism.  I  know  there  is  much  vulgar  fraud  and 
stupidity  connected  with  it,  but  underneath  there  is,  I  am 
sure,  enough  to  convince  us  that  there  is  personal  life 
independent  of  the  body  ;  but  with  this  once  proved  I 
have  no  further  interest  in  the  pursuit  of  spiritualism." 

The  carriage  now  brought  us  to  our  destination,  and 
so  our  talk  came  to  an  end. 

When  I  parted  with  Ruskin  at  Venice  in  1869 
I  went  on  to  Rome,  where  I  chanced  on  my  friend 
Captain,  now  General  Luard.  With  him  I  visited  most 
of  the  galleries  there,  and  we  swam  daily  in  the  Tiber, 
glad  to  rind  that  the  strong  current  could  not  prevent  us 
from  covering  about  a  hundred  yards  ere  our  strength 
was  spent  in  the  struggle. 

I  departed  from  the  Eternal  City  to  Naples,  thence 
took  ship  to  Jaffa  via  Alexandria,  where  I  landed  after 
fourteen  years'  absence. 


CHAPTER    XI 

1869-1874 

When  any  pilgrims  disembark  here,  interpreters  and  other  officers 
of  the  Sultan  instantly  hasten  to  ascertain  their  numbers,  to  serve  them 
as  guides,  and  to  receive  in  the  name  of  their  master  the  customary 
tribute. — BERTRANDON  DE  LA  BROCQUI^RE. 

Is  not  this  the  carpenter,  the  son  of  Mary,  the  brother  of  James, 
and  joses,  and  of  Juda,  and  Simon  r  and  are  not  his  sisters  here  with  us  ? 
— ST.  MARK. 

I  FELT  sad  when  alJ  the  shores,  the  plain,  and  the 
mountains  of  Syria  came  again  in  sight,  for  I  recalled 
familiar  faces  that  were  absent,  some  for  ever  gone. 

Strolling  in  one  of  the  back  streets  of  the  city  I 
suddenly  confronted  an  Arab  whom  I  recognised  as 
though  I  had  seen  him  but  yesterday.  He  was  mate 
of  the  Arab  boat  in  which  we  journeyed  from  Damietta 
in  1854.  "Welcome,  my  master,"  he  cried,  and  before 
I  had  made  reply,  he  added,  "  How  is  the  khowagha 
Seddon  ?  "  and  it  seemed  for  a  moment  as  though  time 
had  made  no  mark,  till  I  replied,  "  He  is  dead." 

Had  I  been  able  years  before  to  carry  out  my  intention 
of  returning  to  Jerusalem,  I  should  have  painted  the  subject 
of  Jesus  reading  in  the  synagogue  the  prophecies  of  the 
Messiah  out  of  the  book  of  Isaiah,  and  announcing  their 
fulfilment  in  Himself ;  the  amazement  and  indignation  of 
the  elders,  together  with  the  loving  suspense  of  those  who 
better  understood  Him,  a  subject  not  yet  treated,  and  one 

272 


CH.XI    PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD    273 

I  had  studied  patiently.  I  deferred  undertaking  this 
subject,  as  a  room  suited  for  the  painting  of  it  could 
not  then  be  obtained.  In  its  place  I  was  affected  by 
the  consideration  of  interests  of  the  early  Church  dis- 
regarded in  later  times,  and  I  believed  that  a  picture 
of  Jesus  engaged  in  His  humbler  duties,  anterior  to 
Messianic  work,  was  calculated  to  make  the  world  realise 
more  fully  the  value  of  His  example  in  the  perfection 
of  His  human  life.  I  engaged  myself,  therefore,  upon 
developing  a  design  bringing  out  what  St.  Mark,  more 
than  the  other  evangelists,  makes  apparent  in  his  words, 
"  Is  not  this  the  carpenter  ? "  The  Virgin's  faith  well- 
nigh  failed  her  as  to  her  early  hopes  of  the  glorious 
and  splendid  career,  which  she,  with  all  persons  of  the 
Jewish  faith  at  the  time,  believed  to  belong  to  the 
reign  of  the  Messiah.  His  teaching  of  non-resistance 

O  O 

as  the  means  of  overcoming  the  Prince  of  this  world, 
and  the  sending  out  of  His  most  trusted  disciples, 
two  by  two,  like  beggars,  to  preach  this  doctrine  in 
all  the  cities  and  villages  of  Judea,  induced  the  brothers 
to  conclude  that  He  was  "  beside  himself,"  and  they 
used  this  argument  with  the  mother  to  destroy  her 
exalted  hopes.  It  was  therefore  justifiable  to  imagine 
that  the  doubt  suggested  by  the  brothers'  appeal,  that 
Jesus  should  be  put  into  "  close  custody,"  as  the  only 
means  of  saving  Him  from  the  otherwise  inevitable 
catastrophe,  had  been  anticipated  in  anxious  hours  as  she 
watched  Him  day  after  day  toiling  like  other  men  as  the 
labourer  "who  waiteth  for  his  shadow,"  uttering  words 
which  could  only  be  interpreted  as  discouragement  of  her 
immediate  and  temporal  ambition  for  her  Son  and  her 
Nation.  Through  all  their  fallen  fortunes  (like  impoverished 
nobles)  she  would  have  retained  the  Magi's  princely  gifts, 
and  for  better  safety  she  would  have  left  them  under  her 
Son's  care,  so  that  at  the  end  of  the  day,  when  safe  from 
intrusion,  she  would  have  joined  her  loved  one  at  His  toil, 
and  opened  the  casket  of  her  treasure  to  reassure  herself 
that  the  gifts  brought  by  the  wise  men  were  a  reality,  not 

VOL.    II  T 


274 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


the  baseless  fabric  of  a  vision.  She  would  see  that  there 
they  lay,  the  golden  crown,  the  royal  sceptre,  and  the 
censer  for  His  enthronement.  Thus  she  would  have 
been  for  the  time  confirmed  in  her  hopes.  Such  were 
my  imaginings,  and  I  saw  Him  stepping  over  the  plank  at 
which  He  had  been  working,  when  the  sun  had  reached 


W.  H.  //. 


SENACULUM. 


the  horizon,  and  recognising  that  the  end  of  the  day's 
labour  had  come,  stretching  His  weary  frame  to  relieve 
the  long-felt  tension,  while  murmuring  a  prayer  to  His 
heavenly  Father.  The  sun  at  this  moment  projected  His 
shadow  on  the  wall,  and  the  tool -rack  accentuated  the 
resemblance  to  that  of  a  crucified  man.  At  the  moment 
of  the  revival  of  His  mother's  trust  the  shadow  attracted 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      275 

her  over-anxious  gaze,  and  awoke  the  presentiment  of 
the  anguish  she  was  doomed  to  suffer. 

After  the  record  by  St.  Mark  that  Christ  at  the  be- 
ginning of  His  mission  was  "  the  carpenter,"  no  one  but 
Justin  Martyr  had  dwelt  upon  this  fact  ;  and  I  felt  its 
importance. 

For    this   picture  I  obtained  a  house   in    an   elevated 


JERUSALEM     BY    TWILIGHT. 


part  of  the  city.  After  much  search,  with  the  aid  of 
Mr.  Bergheim,  the  banker's  son,  I  found  a  house 
known  as  "•  Dar  Berruk  Dar  "  ;  a  large  stable  occupied 
the  ground  floor,  the  living  house  was  reached  by  a 
flight  of  steps,  the  rooms  and  servants'  offices  encircled 
the  courtyard,  above  these  were  other  rooms  and  the  open 
roof.  The  house  had  a  weird  reputation,  not  diminished 
by  the  fact  that  the  last  tenant  had  been  the  consul  of 
the  hapless  Maximilian,  who  had  been  for  the  time 
enacting  the  part  of  emperor  in  Mexico  ;  it  was  in 


276         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

the  Mahomedan  quarter,  and  the  neighbours  said  that 
in  the  reception  room  there  had  stood  "  an  idol " 
of  the  emperor,  the  full  size  of  life  ;  they  added  that 
one  day  all  were  dismayed  to  find  that  the  house  was 
abandoned,  and  that  this  was  soon  accounted  for  by  the 
news  that  the  consul's  master  had  been  executed.  No 
debts  were  paid,  the  house  being  left  with  but  few  con- 
tents, but  "  the  idol  "  had  disappeared.  All  men  spoke  of 
the  place  as  being  under  an  evil  spell,  and  haunted,  for 
it  had  been  built,  they  said,  by  its  original  proprietor  with 
the  sweat  and  tears  of  the  widows  and  fatherless.  With 
the  agreement  that  I  might  enlarge  certain  windows  I  took 
it  for  three  years. 

I  could  not  settle  how  to  overcome  the  difficulties  of 
arranging  the  details  of  my  picture,  until  I  had  made  it  my 
business  to  visit  many  native  carpenters  at  work,  and  had 
been  over  to  Bethlehem,  and  searched  out  the  traditional 
tools,  fast  being  abandoned  for  those  of  European  form. 

I  was  debarred  from  the  use  of  a  picturesque  interior, 
as  it  was  necessary  to  have  a  flat  wall  for  background,  but 
the  one  opportunity  of  outbalancing  the  oppression  pro- 
duced on  the  mind  by  the  unlovely  stone  and  mortared 
wall,  was  in  the  introduction  of  an  open  window  im- 
mediately behind  the  Saviour. 

I  stayed  many  weeks  at  Bethlehem,  where  by  the 
kindness  of  Miss  Hoffmann,  the  temporary  custodian  of 
the  German  Mission  House,  I  was  able  to  work  on  the 
roof  in  uninterrupted  sunlight. 

Thus  I  could  select  the  models  for  my  picture 
from  the  inhabitants,  and  when  a  timid  woman  had 
hesitatingly  posed  for  the  Virgin  opening  the  ivory 
chest,  and  no  dreaded  doom  fell  upon  her,  the  most 
intelligent  of  the  people  were  somewhat  prepared  to 
come  at  my  subsequent  summons  to  Jerusalem.  On 
Saturday  nights  I  returned  to  the  City  to  see  the 
progress  made  in  the  alterations  to  my  house,  and  on 
Sunday  nights  I  walked  back  to  Bethlehem,  where  my  tent 
was  pitched  in  the  Mission  garden. 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      277 

It  happened  that  while  I  was  thus  pursuing  the  tenor 
of  my  ways,  which  were  not  always  "  even,"  Monsieur 
Lesseps,  despite  hindrances,  which  I  feel  shame  in  acknow- 
ledging often  came  from  English  politicians,  had  brought 
his  Suez  Canal  to  a  triumphal  completion.  It  was  opened 
in  the  autumn  of  1869,  when  all  the  courts  of  the  civilised 
world  were  represented  at  the  ceremony.  I  had  been  at 
Port  Said  on  my  journey  out,  and  could  not  now  leave  my 


LETTER    TO    MY    SON. 


work,  but  I  followed  the  news  of  the  great  event.  I 
soon  learned  that  the  Crown  Prince  of  Prussia  was  on 
his  way  from  the  new  Mediterranean  port  to  Syria,  that 
he  would  enter  by  the  short  desert  from  Hebron,  come 
on  tour  to  Bethlehem,  and  rest  for  the  mid-day  meal  at 
the  German  Mission. 

I  always  began  painting  on  the  roof  before  sunrise, 
and  there  was  no  reason  on  the  day  appointed  for  the 
royal  progress  why  I  should  not  proceed  as  usual  with 
my  work,  which  was  suspended  at  mid-day  for  three 
or  four  hours.  I  left  my  painting,  therefore,  as  usual 
about  ten  o'clock,  and  walked  out  with  my  gun  ;  game  at 


278 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP 


this  hour  did  not  present  itself.  But  I  had  a  book  in  my 
pocket,  and  with  this  I  sat  down  on  a  rock,  not  forgetful  of 
the  fact  that  the  German  party  would  soon  be  traversing 
the  road  in  view.  After  a  time,  looking  southward,  I  saw, 
a  mile  away,  ascending  over  the  ridge  which  hid  the  Pools 
of  Solomon,  a  party  ot  about  thirty  European  horsemen, 
with  stragglers  behind.  The  riders  were  all  well  mounted 
and  of  commanding  stature,  but  even  at  the  distance  it  was 
easy  to  distinguish  the  knightly  Prince  who  formed  the 
centre  of  the  cavalcade,  whose  passing,  peaceful  as  it  was, 


undoubtedly  accentuated  a  new  phase  in  the  fate  of  this 
eventful  country. 

I   did  not  return  to  the  house  until  the  royal  guest 
and   his  retinue  were  at  their   breakfast.      Learning  that 

D 

they  were  discussing  this  in  a  room  on  the  first  floor,  1 
felt  that  I  might  reach  my  roof  studio  without  other 
hindrance  than  that  offered  by  the  mother-of-pearl 
salesmen  who  flocked  the  steps.  I  was  half-way  up  the 
stairs,  and  opposite  the  closed  door  of  the  apartment  occu- 
pied by  the  royal  party,  when  it  was  suddenly  thrown  open, 
and  the  Crown  Prince  emerged  with  Miss  Hoffmann. 
He  was  engrossed  in  his  talk  with  that  admirable  lady,  and 
I  stood  against  the  wall  making  my  obeisance,  when  the 
lady  at  once  seized  the  opportunity  of  presenting  me, 
explaining  that  1  was  the  English  artist,  Mr.  Holman 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      279 

Hunt.  The  Prince  immediately  extended  his  hand,  and 
with  gracious  readiness  named  some  of  my  pictures,  and 
inquired  about  the  work  that  I  was  now  engaged  upon, 
asking  in  tones  of  sincere  interest  whether  he  could  see 
it.  I  explained  that  to  my  regret  my  sketch  was  only 
just  begun,  and  quite  unintelligible.  The  Prince  then 
said  that  still  he  hoped  he  should  see  it  when  it  was 
finished,  and  after  due  acknowledgments  I  ascended  to  my 


roof.  When  after  a  short  interval  I  descended,  I  found  a 
crowd  of  vendors  of  native  things  extending  to  the  land- 
ing outside  the  royal  rooms,  who  all  appealed  to  me  to 
recommend  them  to  notice.  This,  of  course,  I  declined 
to  do,  but  I  saw,  standing  quietly,  a  Latin  priest  named 
Don  Boldeno.  1  had  often  before  spoken  with  him, 
and  when  he  appealed  to  me  for  a  presentation  I  felt 
that  his  claims  were  quite  exceptional.  Inviting  him 
to  tollow  me,  I  re  -  ascended  through  the  clamorous 

'  O 

crowd,  and  went  forward  to  the  table,  where,  apologis- 
ing tor  a  possibly  unpardonable  intrusion,  I  introduced 


280  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  xi 

the  good  priest,  saying  that  I  was  not  myself  a  Romanist, 
but  insisted  upon  the  particular  benevolence  of  his  work, 
which  was  to  receive  abandoned  infants  and  children, 
to  nurse  them,  educate  them  sensibly,  teach  them  a  trade, 
and  start  them  in  life — Jews,  Christians,  and  Moslems 
alike. 

"  Where  is  this  Home  ? "  asked  the  Prince.  The 
priest  raised  his  hand,  and  pointed  through  the  window, 
over  an  intervening  mound,  to  where  the  roof  of  the 
building  could  be  seen.  The  Prince's  reply  was,  "  Let 
us  see  the  house,"  and  he  promptly  left  the  room  with 
the  priest.  Once  out-of-doors,  with  long  legs  he  strode 
towards  the  dusty  mound  ;  the  priest  joined  me  in 
recommending  His  Royal  Highness  to  follow  a  cleaner 
though  slightly  more  circuitous  route  ;  with  some  hesita- 
tion, he  consented  to  do  this,  and  I  remained  behind 
watching  the  two,  Don  Boldeno  with  effort  keeping  close 
to  his  royal  leader,  until  they  disappeared  together  into 
what  may  be  called  a  true  "  Christian  Refuge."  I  saw  no 
more,  but  I  learnt  that  the  Crown  Prince  was  greatly 
satisfied  with  the  evidence  of  true  zeal  in  the  management 
of  the  charity,  and  showed  his  appreciation  by  leaving  a 
royal  contribution  behind  him.  The  Prince  set  forth  with 
his  following,  and  continued  his  journey  to  Jerusalem, 
where  he  was  received  with  becoming  state,  and  the  Pasha 
announced  that  he  was  commissioned  by  the  Sultan  to 
hand  over  the  Hospital  of  St.  John  to  the  Prince  for 
Germany.  It  was  anciently  occupied  by  the  Templars,  but 
since  desecrated  to  the  ignoble  purpose  of  a  tanner's  yard. 
Miss  Hoffmann  was  my  informant  of  all  that  happened, 
as  also  of  a  visit  to  another  charitable  institution  (German 
and  Protestant  this  time),  which  formed  a  striking  sequel 
to  that  at  Bethlehem.  The  Prince  was  called  upon  to 
inspect  a  home  for  the  training  of  young  converted  Jews. 
He  expressed  some  impatience  as  he  was  conducted  to  the 
house  through  long,  narrow,  and  tortuous  lanes.  On  his 
arrival  his  first  inquiry  was  for  a  glass  of  cold  water. 
When  it  was  brought,  holding  it  up  to  the  light,  he 


282         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

exclaimed  to  the  manager,  with  stern  military  promptitude, 
*'  Do  you  call  that  smeared  and  dirty  glass  fit  to  drink 
from  ?  " 

"  Pray,  pardon  me,  your  Royal  Highness,"  stammered 
the  confused  overseer,  "  we  were  not  apprized  that  your 
Royal  Highness's  visit  would  be  so  early." 

"  I  did  not  ask  you,  sir,  if  the  glass  was  fit  for  me,  the 
Crown  Prince,  to  drink  from,  I  asked  you  whether  it  was 
fit  for  any  one  to  use,  for  nobody  should  be  asked  to 
drink  a  glass  of  water  unfit  for  a  prince,"  thundered  his 
visitor.  The  next  moment  the  Prince's  eyes  made  a 
hasty  survey  of  the  room,  and  he  asked  whether  under 
the  bed  was  a  fitting  place  for  a  pair  of  dirty  jack-boots 
which  lay  there.  "  Bring  them  out,"  he  said.  One  of  the 
attendants  darted  to  the  spot  and  lugged  at  the  boots  ; 
but  the  royal  mandate  was  not  so  easily  obeyed,  for  there 
proved  to  be  a  pair  of  legs  inside  those  boots,  and  to  those 
lower  limbs  a  reluctant  body  was  attached,  and  a  face 
showing  but  little  desire  for  a  royal  introduction.  The 
wretched  man  had  been  employed  in  the  room,  when, 
hearing  the  steps  of  the  august  party,  he  had  hurriedly 
crept  under  the  bed,  hoping  that  by  remaining  quiet  he 
might  escape  observation.  The  Crown  Prince's  indigna- 
tion was  unmistakable.  "  I  have  been  told,  sir,"  he  said, 
turning  to  the  disconcerted  head  of  the  establishment, 
"  that  you  were  once  in  the  Prussian  army,  and  I  am  not 
at  all  sure  that  I  shall  not  have  you  reported  and  removed 
from  the  post  you  now  fill  with  so  little  credit."  At  this 
the  Prince  turned  his  back,  leaving  no  golden  coins 
behind  him,  I  was  told. 

When  all  was  ready  at  my  house  in  the  "  City  of 
Visions,"  Mr.  Samuel  Bergheim,  who  had  kindly  taken  the 
trouble  to  superintend  the  buildings  during  my  absence, 
inquired  of  me  whether  I  would  allow  him  to  invite  a 
certain  company  of  Moslem  necromancers  to  hold  an 
incantation  ceremony  in  one  of  my  rooms.  Their  object 
would  be  nothing  less  than  to  raise  the  form  of  a  departed 
friend  known  to  the  circle,  who,  after  a  formula  by  the 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      283 

arch  magician,  would  appear  seated  in  a  chair  left  vacant 
for  the  revenant  from  the  other  world.  Being  thus  seated, 
he  would  reply  to  any  questions  put  to  him,  and  any  one 
of  the  company  might  approach  and  satisfy  themselves  of 
the  actuality  of  the  presence  by  touching  it,  taking  its 
hand,  or  feeling  its  raiment. 

I    assured    my   friend   that   to   put   to    the    test    such 


A    NEW    CONVERT    (FROM    LETTER    TO    MY    SON,     1869). 

pretensions  would  be  of  the  greatest  interest  to  me,  but  it 
was  desirable  to  understand  more  exactly  the  characters 
of  the  people  concerned  in  the  business. 

I  learned  that  the  spiritualistic  believers  comprised 
a  secret  society  ;  that  when  spoken  to  about  their  practices 
they  would  at  first  avow  utter  ignorance  of  what  was 
meant,  but  on  persevering,  their  interlocutor  would 
ultimately  end  in  persuading  them  to  accept  the  invita- 
tion to  hold  an  incantation  at  my  house,  which  was 


284 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


well  known  to  them,  and  would  be  regarded  as  eminently 
suitable  for  the  purpose.  As  to  further  conditions, 
my  friend  added  that  the  head  magician,  with  all 
seated  around  him,  would  begin  by  burning  aromatic 
herbs  in  a  charing  dish  ;  he  would  then  call  upon 
"  Shaitan,"  as  the  arch  and  successful  withstander  of  the 
tyrant  Almighty,  to  grant  them  the  desired  favour  of 
the  return  to  their  company  of  some  departed  friend, 
and  that  in  gratitude  for  "  Shaitan's "  concession  they 
would  ever  after  be  his  devoted  servants. 


ROOF    OF    MY    HOUSE    AT    JERUSALEM. 


Said  I,  "  They  would  not  include  us,  I  assume  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  my  friend  replied,  "  they  would  not  proceed 
unless  all  joined  in  it." 

I  have  been  blamed  since  for  regarding  this  con- 
dition as  a  fatal  objection  to  my  prosecution  of  the 
investigation,  but  I  could  find  no  alternative,  and  there- 
fore my  contribution  to  the  Eastern  belief  in  supernatural 
dealings  goes  no  farther  than  to  show  that  such  belief  still 
exists.  Mr.  Bergheim  afterwards  published  a  full  narrative 
of  his  own  experience  of  the  power  of  a  celebrated  dervish 
in  the  Lebanon. 

The  house  was  indeed  a  gaunt  one,  and  my  servants 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      285 

lived  on  the  floor  below  me.  Gabriel,  the  Abyssinian 
servant  who  marketed  for  me,  was  a  handsome  fellow  ;  he 
had  shining  and  beautiful  teeth,  and  his  eyes  flashed  the 
more  from  his  dark  skin.  My  cook,  Miriam  El 
"Megnoona,"  was  an  old  Bethlehemite.  As  I  sat  up  hours 
after  them,  the  wind  whistled  whenever  the  air  was  dis- 
turbed, and  in  thunderstorms  the  reverberation  from 
the  hills  carried  awe  with  it  ;  at  night  the  windows 


DADDY  COINCTOTAKE  POSSESSION 
ee  HIS  NEW  MouseOrfl86q 


LETTER    TO    MY    SOX. 


rattled  as  though  beset  with  angry  spirits.  With  the 
bursting  open  of  the  casements  the  lamp  would  be 
extinguished,  and  in  darkness  1  would  traverse  the  inter- 
vening chambers  to  my  bedroom,  either  to  sleep  or  to 
re-kindle  my  lamp.  One  night,  when  no  such  turmoil  of 
the  elements  was  astir,  I  distinctly  heard  a  noise  advancing 
up  the  steps.  Snatching  up  a  candle  I  went  to  meet  it. 
Half-way  down  I  was  confronted  by  a  company  of  rats, 
who  stood  there  defying  me  until  I  hurled  something 
at  them,  on  which  they  scampered  away  as  if  astonished 
at  the  cruelty  of  the  oppressor.  Among  these  intruders 


286 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


were  serpents  also.  I  shot  some,  and  a  charmer  who 
had  had  his  attention  directed  to  one  tormenting  a 
mother  pigeon  on  my  wall,  came  and  captured  it.  At 
times  scorpions  and  centipedes  crawling  over  stiff  paper 
in  my  bedroom  woke  me  up,  and  these  alone  would 
account  for  much  of  the  ghostly  reputation  of  the  house. 
As  a  set-off  the  wind  brought  with  it  many  pleasant 
odours,  and  the  hills  from  which  they  came  were 


LETTER    TO    MY    CHILD. 


delightful  to  look  upon  from  my  upper  casements. 
There  were  but  one  or  two  roofs  of  houses  to  the 
west  which  rivalled  mine  in  height,  and  a  minaret 
shot  up  close  by.  The  sky  in  the  zenith  was  so  clear, 
that  in  summer  throughout  the  day  Venus  was  often 
visible,  and  at  night  the  whole  Temple  area  could  be 
seen  as  Titus  saw  it  from  the  same  spot,  when  it  was 
without  the  city.  To  walk  up  and  down  in  the  cool, 
and  glory  that  at  last  I  had  got  back  to  work  on  an 
Eastern  subject,  brought  peace  to  my  soul,  although 
the  reflection  how  far  short  of  my  erewhile  roseate 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      287 

hope  my  state  was,  often  drove  me  indoors  to  my  solitary 
work. 

For  my  large  picture,  I  found  it  necessary  to  have 
two  wooden  houses  constructed  on  the  roof,  to  ride  on 
rollers,  one  open  to  the  horizontal  beams  of  the  sun,  so  as 
to  get  the  correct  light  and  shade  on  my  model  ;  this  was 
wheeled  into  place  in  the  afternoon,  to  catch  the  glow  of 
the  setting  sun.  The  other  hut  was  to  shade  myself  and 
my  picture,  and  this  also  was  movable.  When  I  had,  by 


some  months'  steady  work,  advanced  my  picture  to  a 
point  at  which  I  could  judge  ot  my  requirements  for  the 
window  outlook,  the  proper  season  had  come  to  find  a 
landscape  at  Nazareth  yet  fresh  in  verdure,  so  I  set  out 
on  a  four  days'  journey  towards  the  north.  Arrived  at 
Nazareth  I  encamped  below  the  town,  and  ascended  each 
morning  to  the  eminence  on  which  the  ancient  city  had 
been  built.  Thence  I  had  an  enchanting  view  of  the 
valley  fields  cultivated  by  Nazarene  farmers,  and  of  its 
flanking  hills  reaching  to  "  Gebel  el  Cowis,"  the  Hill  of 
Precipitation,  evidently  so  named  from  its  conspicuously 
abrupt  descent  into  the  plain  of  Jezreel.  On  the  great 
lower  plain  stretched  the  patchwork  squares  of  cultivation 


288          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

under  the  slope  of  Tabor,  continuing  to  the  hills  of  Gilboa 
and  Dothan,  and  these  branched  out  into  the  swelling 
heights  of  Samaria,  as  well  as  the  extended  range  of 
Carmel,  bounding  on  the  south  Jezreel,  Megiddo,  and  the 
lowland  where  ran  "  that  ancient  river  the  Kishon  "  —the 
plain  where  flowed  the  blood  of  so  many  warriors  of  alien 
races  who  have  shaped  the  course  of  history.  As  I  sat 
quietly  at  work,  I  could  hear  the  younger  members  of  a 
house  and  garden  higher  up  on  the  hill  cheerfully  con- 
tending at  play,  and  occasionally  I  turned  and  saw 
some  grown  girls  appearing  and  disappearing  on  a 
swing.  They  were  continually  shouting  a  pean,  with  loud 
tongue  dividing  the  strains  into  verses.  After  a  time  I 
listened  and  discovered  that  their  song  was  :— 

One  has  come  to  the  town, 

A  khowagha  he, 

With  horses  and  mules  and  asses, 

And  so  we  shout  the  song  of  festivity. 

Muleteers  and  ass  drivers  and  servants 
Has  he  brought, 

He  is  encamped  in  the  lower  vale, 
And  so  we  shout  the  song  of  festivity. 

In  the  night  well  guarded 

Sleeps  he, 

With  sentinels  around  his  tent, 

And  so  we  shout  the  song  of  festivity. 

Robbers  and  beasts  of  prey, 

And  jackals  of  the  night, 

Fear  to  come  nigh, 

And  so  we  shout  the  song  of  festivity. 

Each  morn  he  mounts  to  the  hill 

With  many  colours  and  pens, 

And  writes  till  eve,  brightening  his  white  board, 

And  we  shout  the  song  of  festivity. 

From  the  Holy  City  he  has  come, 
Yea,  and  even  far  beyond  the  sea, 
And  so  we  shout  the  song  of  festivity. 

Will  he  go  away  again, 

Or  will  he  take  our  welcome  ? 

While  we  shout  the  song  of  festivity. 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      289 

The  girls  had  probably  talked  to  my  attendants,  and 
furnished  with  news,  seldom  varied  in  this  quiet  place, 
they  had  improvised  this  song  on  traditional  lines,  but 
they  made  no  effort  to  satisfy  their  curiosity  by  coming 
out  to  see  my  work. 

One  Sunday  morning  I  mounted  my  horse,  and,  with 
servant  behind,  rode  out  to  Cana  of  Galilee.  Nazareth  has 
been  compared  to  an  open  rosebud  ;  it  was  interesting  to 
see  how  deeply  the  road  that  took  us  out  of  the  hollow  had 
been  worn  by  the  feet  of  generations  since  first  it  received 
the  form  on  which  the  comparison  was  based.  We  passed 
through  villages  and  fields  with  trees  bearing  fruit  already 
ripe  and  plentiful.  To  judge  from  the  company  round 
the  well-cisterns,  with  laughing  girls  carrying  on  their 
heads  large  jars  of  water,  there  seemed  reason  to  conclude 
that  it  was  at  the  time  a  happy  neighbourhood.  Our 
animals  were  served  by  playful  loiterers  at  every  stage  ; 
when  we  reached  the  village  we  were  assured  that  a  stone 
house,  now  made  into  a  Greek  church,  was  the  identical 
building  where  Christ  had  attended  the  bridal  feast  and 
turned  the  water  into  wine.  The  ceremony  of  the  baptism 
of  two  babes  was  going  on  ;  the  christening  was  a  most 
complicated  one.  One  child,  not  so  robust  as  the  other, 
gave  up  its  protests  before  it  was  half  unpaganised,  but  the 
evil  spirit  in  the  other  protested  to  the  end  with  lusty 
lungs,  and  it  seemed  as  though  all  its  previous  appreciation 
of  parental  authority  had  been  destroyed  before  the  priest 
had  finished  his  task.  After  this  the  whole  company  went 
away,  and  I  was  allowed  to  examine  the  simple  building, 
behind  the  altar  as  well  as  in  front  of  it. 

An  emotion  of  great  sadness  possessed  me.  Spite 
of  all  reason,  I  felt  as  though  I  had  come  to  see  a 
friend,  and  was  disappointed  that  he  was  not  there 
and  could  not  be  found.  I  left  the  house  and  village 

O 

sorrowfully,  as  one  does  who  has  failed  in  an  earnest 
desire.  When,  after  several  days,  I  had  obtained  the 
materials  for  my  background,  I  returned  to  Jerusalem 
and  resumed  my  work. 

VOL.    II  U 


290         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Captain  Luard,  the  friend  whom  I  had  left  in 
Italy,  had  accepted  my  invitation  to  stay  with  me 
a  month  or  two  on  his  return  journey  to  India,  about 
the  beginning  of  June,  I  received  a  telegram  to  say 
that  he  would  arrive  at  Jaffa  by  the  next  steamer,  and  he 
asked  me  to  meet  him  at  the  seaport.  Accordingly  I 
started  before  daybreak,  and  arrived  at  Jaffa  by  noon. 
The  French  steamer  arrived  and  anchored  in  the  road- 
stead, and  I  took  a  boat  and  went  out  to  the  ship.  On 
finding  my  friend  I  asked  him,  "  Tell  me,  is  it  war  or 

5  " 

peace  r 

He  put  his  finger  to  his  lips,  saying,  "  Come  into 
my  cabin."  There  he  whispered,  "  It  'is  war  ;  but  the 
good  people  of  the  ship  are  so  excited  that  it  is  well  not 
to  speak  of  it  at  all  before  them.  A  German  happens  to 
have  been  my  fellow-passenger,  and  he  used  to  appear  at 
the  table  in  the  saloon  at  meal  times  ;  but  the  French 
officers  made  such  demonstrations  of  the  determination  of 
France  to  overrun  Germany  and  humble  it  to  the  dust, 
that  he  in  prudence  had  his  meals  alone."  My  friend, 
however,  conversed  with  him  in  the  night  on  unfrequented 
parts  of  the  ship,  when  he  declared  that  in  Germany  this 
war  had  been  foreseen  for  years  ;  that  they  knew  the 
actual  condition  of  the  French  army  to  be  so  inferior 
to  its  declared  efficiency,  and  the  German  army  to  have 
been  prepared  so  carefully  for  the  contest  that  he  had 
no  doubt  France  would  find  itself  in  a  very  pitiable 
condition. 

We  rode  up  to  Jerusalem,  carrying  the  news  with 
us.  It  was  a  sorrowful  year  in  every  way.  There 
had  been  a  very  insufficient  fall  of  rain  in  the  winter, 
the  land  had  suffered  from  drought  and  most  of  the 
cisterns  were  empty.  Children  went  from  door  to  door, 
empty  cup  in  hand,  beseeching  in  God's  name  a  drink 
of  water.  Attempts  had  been  made  to  track  under- 
ground cisterns,  and  two  important  channels  on  the 
northern  side  of  the  Mosque  had  been  discovered  ; 
but  these,  owing  to  the  choking  up  of  soil,  had  only  a 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      291 

few  pools  of  worthless  water  in  them,  and  the  clearing  out 
of  the  channels  was  forbidden  by  the  French  consul,  who 
descended  with  his  suite  and  claimed  it  for  his  Empire.  It 
was  natural  that  the  opening  of  the  Suez  Canal  was 
said  to  have  drawn  all  the  water  away  from  this  hill 
country,  certainly  before  the  rainy  season  had  passed, 
it  was  tantalising  to  watch  heavy  clouds  come  up  from 


MIRIAM,   MY    COOK    (PAGE    285). 


the  sea  and  pause  as  if  to  discharge  their  contents  on 
the  watershed  of  the  country,  then  dissipate  themselves 
into  quickly  dissolved  shreds.  I  was  fortunate  in 
having  a  sufficient  supply  of  water  and  to  spare  in  my 
own  wells. 

We  lived  retired  lives,  scarcely  meeting  the  com- 
munity under  English  protection.  One  difficulty  that  I 
had  with  my  subject  was  that  while  the  model  was  of 
the  bronzed  complexion  that  I  required,  after  two  days' 
burning  of  the  sun  he  had  become  red,  and  this  was 


292         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

succeeded  by  the  chocolate  colour  of  the  Central  Indian. 
In  consequence  I  could  not  proceed  until  he  had  been 
covered  up  for  a  month,  but  the  drapery  I  was  able  to 
work  at  in  the  intervals. 

The  habit  of  Orientals  to  sit  cross-legged  from  infancy 
tends  to  destroy  the  delicate  form  of  the  men's  lower 
limbs  ;  from  this  cause  I  had  some  difficulty  in  satisfying 
myself  in  the  painting  of  the  figure,  which  occasioned 
many  undoings  of  my  work. 

As  the  season  wore  on  and  the  weather  became  too 
wild  for  painting  on  the  roof,  I  was  able  in  my  studio  to 
turn  my  attention  to  accessories.  Luard  had  intended 
to  try  his  hand  at  painting  a  subject, 'but  on  coming  to 
close  quarters  with  it  he  felt  the  need  of  materials 
procurable  only  from  Europe,  and  so  waiting,  reading, 
and  following  other  interests,  his  time  passed  away. 
Our  only  intercourse  was  at  meals  and  after  supper 
when  we  walked  on  the  roof,  and  he  told  me  many  a 
stirring  tale  of  his  experiences  in  the  Indian  Mutiny 
and  the  China  War.  His  father  had  been  at  Waterloo, 
and  had  been  an  amateur  artist  ;  his  brother  John,  our 
close  friend,  had  died  at  an  early  age. 

When  he  had  left  and  I  was  again  alone,  the 
winter  had  passed  and  spring  had  returned.  I  was 
anxious  to  avoid  a  repetition  of  my  troubles  with  the 
over -bronzed  colour  of  my  model,  and  I  determined 
to  make  the  best  of  my  time  before  the  sun  grew  too 
fierce.  It  was  necessary  for  me  to  be  on  the  alert 
throughout  the  night  to  observe  whether  the  sky  was 
clear  and  promising  a  fine  sunrise,  in  which  case  I 
awoke  my  Abyssinian,  arranged  my  materials  for 
working,  and  when  the  sun  was  getting  near  the 
horizon,  I  had  the  Bethlehem  man,  who  slept  in 
my  house,  awakened,  and  I  eagerly  blocked  out  my 
work. 

It  was  often  very  cold  in  my  shaded  painting  hut, 
while  the  man  in  his  shed  felt  the  burning  heat.  After  a 

o 

quarter  of  an   hour  without  leisure   to  glance  at   the  sky, 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD 


293 


I  felt  confident  in  the  satisfactory  promise  of  my  morning's 
preparation,  but  suddenly  the  light  would  often  be  obscured, 
and  I  found  that  the  mist  out  of  the  valleys  had  gathered 
into  a  thick  cloud,  and  that  this  rose  up  at  a  corresponding 
altitude  with  the  sun,  completely  concealing  its  rays  for 


STUDY    FOR    FIG    TREK. 


two  or  three  hours.  At  this  point  the  work  had  not 
progressed  far  enough  for  its  completion  at  sunset. 
With  my  system  of  painting,  if  I  left  it,  it  would  have 
prevented  me  from  making  a  happier  preparation  on 
the  morrow  ;  there  was  no  choice  therefore  but  to 
wipe  it  all  out  and  wait  for  a  new  morning  ;  but  the 
same  experience  was  followed  day  after  day  and  week 


294         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

alter  week,  and  this  was  the  more  disastrous,  because 
at  each  fresh  posing  the  man's  skin  again  became 
darkened.  It  was  indeed  now,  as  it  so  often  seemed,  that 
Nature  was  jealous  and  abhorred  the  imitation  of  herself, 
appointing  Fate  to  stand  on  the  watch  to  frustrate 
all  attempts  at  representing  her.  My  man,  although 
tall  enough,  was  objectionably  spare  and  wanting  in 
richness  of  line.  I  had  hoped  to  correct  these  defects 
sufficiently,  but  about  this  time  certain  large  photographs 
of  antique  figures  sent  by  my  friend  Luard,  even  with 
all  allowance  made  for  the  Oriental  character  of  my 
figure,  reminded  me  by  their  greater  fulness  of  form 
that  my  eye  had  become  so  far  accustomed  to  the  lean- 
ness of  Syrians  that  I  was  in  danger  of  finishing  the 
figure  of  Christ  without  the  comeliness  of  proportion  it 
was  my  object  to  give.  I  was  determined,  therefore,  to 
look  out  for  a  better  developed  model.  I  had  not  yet 
found  any  one  from  whom  I  could  study  the  head,  but, 
wandering  through  the  lanes  of  Bethlehem,  I  came  upon  a 
man  of  singularly  noble  form  and  beauty  of  expression. 
He  agreed  to  sit  to  me,  and  I  found  him  undoubtedly  the 
most  truthful,  honest,  and  dignified  servant  I  ever  met  in 
Syria.  He  was  a  staunch  member  of  the  Greek  Church ; 
his  name  Jarius  Hasboon.  From  this  man  I  was  able  to 
paint  the  head  and  modify  the  figure. 

The  loneliness  of  my  life  in  this  second  visit  to  Syria 
was  so  great  a  contrast  to  what  I  had  planned  it  should  be, 
that  oftentimes  1  pitied  myself.  There  were  no  companions 
with  whom  to  have  converse,  and  I  felt  what  disadvantage 
it  was  to  have  no  friendly  eye  to  comment  on  my  painting, 
nor  any  other  works  of  art  to  refresh  me.  I  often  felt, 
while  enjoying  my  work  to  the  full,  how  foolish  were  the 
axioms  of  those  modern  social  reformers  who  would  have 
it  that  the  labour  of  an  artist  is  one  of  continuous  enjoy- 
ment. Had  they  seen  me  sometimes  in  the  quiet  hours 
when  alone,  they  would  have  been  encouraged  in  the 
condemnation  of  my  efforts,  as  altogether  proving  the 
want  of  that  artistic  self-confidence  thev  so  much  admire. 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      295 

To  work  on  settled  lines,  to  give  a  Greek,  a  Michael 
Angelesque,  a  Titianesque,  or  any  other  traditional  com- 
plexion to  a  design,  may  to  many  seem  wiser,  as  in  such  a 
course  stepping-stones  will  be  found  as  assured  conductors 
at  every  pass.  I  do  not  here  dispute  such  proposition, 
but  certainly  to  make  a  new  idea  intelligible  and  acceptable 
is  an  undertaking  beset  with  pitfalls,  and  the  effort  to 
arrive  finally  at  one's  goal  is  often  far  beyond  estimate  of 
the  danger  of  failure  to  be  encountered. 

Each  evening,  returning  after  sundown  from  my 
constitutional  and  ascending  the  steep  hill  of  Bezeeta 
leading  to  my  house,  I  passed  a  cafe  held  in  a  large  hall, 
which  I  had  more  than  once  entered,  at  the  instance  of  the 
master,  to  examine  the  large  masonry  of  its  walls  and  a 
stout  column  with  capital  of  early  post-Christian  date  at 
the  farther  side  of  the  building  ;  its  fellow  pillars  were 
covered  up  in  late  stonework.  In  the  dusk  the  chamber 
was  arranged  for  the  entertainment  of  Moslem  husbands  who 
there  enjoyed  repose  from  the  wrangles  of  their  numerous 
"  houri  "  wives.  As  I  passed  by,  the  interior  was  lighted 
with  candles  and  lamps,  the  ground  was  neatly  swept,  and 
stools  were  placed  for  the  assembling  guests,  while  inside 
was  a  higher  seat  for  the  reciter.  It  was  usual  as  I  passed 
for  the  cafe  keeper  and  some  of  his  visitors  to  invite  me 
courteously  to  join  them,  but  I  felt  constrained  politely 
to  decline  and  pass  on  after  interchange  of  compliment. 
The  evening  meal  was  prepared  for  me  on  my  return,  but 
when  I  had  partaken  of  this  I  paced  the  roof  to  enjoy  the 
cool  air,  the  moon's  soothing  light  or  the  boundless  maze 
of  stars,  and  view  of  the  mosque  area  sacred  as  for  all  time. 
The  silence  was  broken  by  the  monotonous  intonation  of 
a  chanter  at  the  cafe,  and  when  his  droning  was  ended  a 
many-mouthed  chorus  began  which  sang  the  praises  of 
Antar  (converted  to  Islam  many  centuries  after  his  death), 
or  of  other  champions  against  the  infidel  like  Mokmah, 
who  trod  his  scores  of  enemies  under  his  feet.  As  the  music 
ceased,  the  chant  continued  the  theme  until  the  chorus 
began  again,  completing  the  delight  of  the  Mahomedan 


296         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

company.  The  alternating  song  continued  inspiringly, 
so  that  step  by  step  one's  blood  danced  with  the  Arab 
destroyers  rather  than  with  the  overthrown  infidel  who  had 
fought  for  the  Christian  faith.  In  exchanging  the  reign 
of  the  olive  branch  for  that  of  the  sword,  the  religion  of 
Mohammed  followed  no  exceptional  rule. 

Before  the  story-teller  had  concluded  his  tale,  the 
Kutib  muezzin  in  the  contiguous  minaret  appeared  in  the 
gallery  and  acclaimed  in  trumpet  notes,  "  Allah  ilia  Allah 
ou  Mahmoud  il  rasoul  Allah."  The  piercing  notes  ex- 
tended far  over  house-tops,  mosques,  Temple  platform, 
castle  towers,  and  walls,  surging  out  to  the  mountains 
beyond  like  a  strong  tidal  wave,  so  that  I  was  led  to 
ponder  on  the  time  when  Omar  first  made  the  change 
which  built  minarets  and  mosques  in  the  place  of  Christian 
churches,  because  the  worshippers  in  these  last  were 
self-condemned  in  their  luxury  and  corruption  as  unfit  to 
witness  to  the  simple  creed  of  Christ.  The  religion  of  the 
Messiah  was  in  that  age  proved  to  be  too  sublime  for 
this  world,  and  Mohammed  came  to  substitute  one  more 
within  the  reach  of  humanity.  Even  now,  in  the  city 
where  the  only  prophet  endowed  with  the  "  soul  of  God  "  l 
had  sealed  His  teaching  with  His  blood,  it  was  a  question 
whether  Mohammed's  verdict  had  yet  ceased  to  be 
true. 

One  late  afternoon  when  working  from  my  model, 
intent  upon  the  rendering  of  the  sunset  tone,  the 
man  suddenly  withdrew  his  raised  arms  and  with  an 
ejaculation  retreated  from  the  shed,  pointing  towards  the 
west.  Turning  in  that  direction,  I  saw  at  the  highest 
point  of  a  house  a  hundred  yards  away,  a  bevy  of  women, 
looking  steadily  in  our  direction.  As  they  saw  me  start 
up  they  shouted,  "  Why  dees  your  man,  O  effendi, 
stand  all  the  afternoon  with  his  arms  stretched  out  like  an 
idol  ?  "  They  were  evidently  in  good  humour,  and  one  in 
talking  let  her  veil  blow  aside,  by  which  it  was  easy  to 
perceive  that  she  was  beautiful.  I  answered  that  I  was 

1  Thus  the  educated  Moslem  designates  Christ. 


xr        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      297 

making  a  picture  of  him,  that  it  was  convenient  to  me  for 
him  to  stand  thus,  and  that  I  had  not  known  before  that 


STUDY    FOR    HEAD    OF    CHRIST. 


the  angles  of  the  wall  had  any  platform  below  on  which 
people  could  stand  and  see  us  at  work. 


298         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

I  contrived  the  best  I  could  to  avoid  further  curiosity 
and  continued  my  painting  ;  I  should  not  have  noted  the 
trifling  incident,  but  within  a  month  one  evening  when  at 
supper  I  heard  most  distressing  sounds  of  lamentation, 
the  inconsolable  grievings  as  of  a  child,  but  the  voice  was 
that  of  a  man.  I  asked  my  servant  the  cause  of  the 
low  lament,  and  he  told  me  it  was  the  mourning  of  the 
effendi,  my  neighbour,  for  the  loss  of  the  most  beautiful 
of  his  wives.  All  my  fellow-residents  on  the  height  of 
Bezeeta  were  demonstrative  in  their  feelings  over  domestic 
fortunes,  and  it  was  according  to  common  experience  that, 
a  few  days  later,  I  heard  loud  tom-toms  being  beaten  and 
the  sound  of  lutes,  together  with  strident  cries  of  rejoicing 
stinging  the  evening  air.  I  remarked  to  my  man  that  the 
noisy  rejoicings  must  be  particularly  painful  to  my  effendi 
neighbour.  The  reply  was,  "  No,  the  rejoicings  are  for  his 
wedding  with  a  new  bride." 

In  the  intervals  of  my  task  I  sometimes  reflected  upon 
the  relinquished  subject  of  the  "Flight  into  Egypt"; 
and  pondering  on  the  history  given  by  St.  Matthew,  the 
notion  came  to  me  that  since  the  little  playmates  of  Jesus 
had  been  a  vicarious  sacrifice,  they  would  in  their  spiritual 
life  be  still  constant  in  their  love  for  the  forlorn  but 
Heaven-defended  family.  Having  become  interested  in 
this  idea,  while  embodying  it  on  a  canvas  I  took 
occasion  to  make  an  expedition  to  the  Philistine  Plain 
towards  Gaza,  to  get  characteristic  materials  for  the 
landscape.  Mr.  Samuel  Bergheim  was  my  companion. 
At  Gaza  a  handsome  group  of  trees  over  a  water- 
wheel  recommended  itself  as  most  suitable  to  my  back- 
ground. The  moon  happened  to  be  at  the  full  when 
we  arrived,  and  I  used  the  opportunity  by  staying  up 
some  nights  until  I  had  painted  the  trees  with  the 
figures.  We  returned  by  way  of  Ascalon,  Gath,  and 
Ashdod,  and  struck  the  Jaffa  road  near  the  Wady.  A 
native  from  the  sea- coast  told  me  that  there  was  an 
Englishman  in  the  hotel  who  was  at  the  point  of  death. 
I  could  do  nothing  alone,  but  on  arrival  at  Jerusalem 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      299 

I  saw  the  excellent  Dr.  Chaplin.  The  etiquette  of  the 
profession  forbad  that  he  should  go  without  an  appeal 
from  some  friend,  but  he  agreed  that  I  could  take  upon 
me  this  character.  We  were  to  go  on  the  morrow,  but  in 
the  afternoon  a  telegram  came  saying  that  the  case  was 
most  urgent.  At  the  same  time  came  news  of  robbery 
and  murder  on  the  road,  and  the  Pasha  insisted  that 
we  should  have  two  soldiers  as  guards.  We  started 
before  sunset,  our  soldiers  were  lazy  and  lagged  behind, 


LETTER    TO    MY    CHILD. 


till  we  were  out  of  patience  and  rode  on  to  Latrone. 
On  our  right  we  were  called  to  by  a  group  of  fellalien 
running  towards  us  and  charging  us  to  stop,  encourag- 
ingly adding  that  we  should  not  fear.  While  trotting 

o    .  o  O 

on  we  joked  them  that  they  were  so  slow  we  could 
not  spare  time  for  the  pleasure  of  their  interview,  and 
that  advancing  night  reminded  us  of  the  long  journey 
before  us.  We  tantalised  them  by  keeping  far  out 
of  their  reach.  At  the  ascent  of  the  hill,  wishing  them 
good-bye,  we  spurred  our  horses  and  cantered  up  the 
road  ;  within  a  mile  we  were  on  the  crest  of  the  hill, 


300         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

in  view  of  the  plain  in  front,  when  suddenly  we  were 
faced  by  a  mounted  body  of  murderous-looking  villains 
armed  with  weapons  of  many  fashions.  We  took  up  our 
position  with  a  prickly-pear  hedge  behind  us,  while  the 
sheik  asked  us  whether  we  were  without  guards.  We 
confessed  that  our  soldiers  were  too  slow  for  us,  and  that 
we  were  well  armed,  and  quite  prepared  to  defend  our- 
selves. After  other  inquiries  and  our  candid  replies,  they 
drew  aside  and  left  the  road  open  to  us,  which  we 
cautiously  pursued  and  came  to  Ramleh  Convent,  where 
we  alighted  for  refreshment  of  welcome  coffee  and  whole- 
some bread  and  fruit.  On  remounting  we  cantered  and 
trotted  in  turn  to  the  German  hotel. 

We  reached  this  about  two  A.M.  ;  it  was  shut  up  and 
dark,  and  we  had  to  knock  for  half  an  hour,  when  the 
landlord  opened  and  explained  that  the  patient  had  been 
taken  away  to  a  hospital  in  the  town.  We  elected  to  go 
on  foot,  for  the  chance  of  getting  in,  while  there  was  yet 
hope  of  saving  the  sinking  man.  At  the  city  gate  we 
heard  the  sentinel  inside  marching  up  and  down.  We 
knocked,  telling  him  that  we  as  doctors  had  come  to  see  a 
sick  man  in  the  town  ;  for  half  an  hour  he  imperturbably 
walked  up  and  down  and  denied  admission  to  us,  but 
because  of  our  importunity  he  ended  by  opening  the  gate. 

At  first,  our  object  seemed  a  hopeless  one,  but  the 
doctor  knew  the  German  quarter,  and  we  groped  our  way 
to  it.  One  window  showed  sign  of  light,  we  knocked 
at  the  door,  and  the  answering  German  told  us  that 
the  Englishman  was  there  ;  being  admitted,  we  ascended 
to  the  sick-room.  Certainly  the  sight  of  the  patient  gave 
small  indication  of  life,  but  the  laboured  breathing  was 
thought  a  sign  that  the  fire  was  still  within,  a  very 
smouldering  one  indeed. 

The  doctor  began  inquiries  as  to  the  hours  of  the 
recurrent  attacks.  One,  perhaps  the  last,  would  come  in 
about  two  hours,  he  said.  He  concocted  a  strong  potion, 
and  left  this  with  the  intelligent  master  and  mistress  to  be 
given  at  the  critical  moment. 


xr        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      301 

We  then  felt  justified  in  going  back  to  much-needed 
sleep. 

After  breakfast  we  returned  to  the  hospital,  and 
to  our  relief  found  that  the  Englishman  had  successfully 
thrown  off  the  dreaded  fits  and  was  doing  well. 

We  stayed  in  Jaffa  a  second  day,  leaving  the  patient 
safe,  although  unable  to  talk. 

The  doctor  steadfastly  refused  my  proffered  fee. 


fiNf^^p^-^; 


LETTER    TO    MY    CHILD. 


Eventually  the  Englishman  recovered,  came  to  the 
hotel  at  Jerusalem,  and  went  out  shooting  in  the  neigh- 
bourhood ;  but  he  called  neither  upon  the  doctor  nor 
myself,  so  that  we  concluded  he  did  not  know  how  he 
had  been  brought  back  to  life. 

Before  the  next  winter  was  "over  and  gone"  fever 
came  upon  me,  perhaps  because  of  my  restlessness  at 
nights  to  see  what  chance  promised  for  my  morning's 
work.  Dr.  Chaplin  attended  me  and  brought  me  past 
the  crisis  of  my  illness,  which  proved  to  be  gastric  fever 
of  a  dangerous  character.  My  servants,  with  true  Oriental 


302         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

fatalism,  shrugged  their  shoulders  to  inquirers,  saying, 
"  God  will  provide,"  or  "  God  knows,"  "  If  it  be  His  will 
that  the  Moallim  should  die,  nothing  can  save  him,  while 
if  God  ordains  the  M'sowah  should  recover,  he  will  get  up 
again."  They  lived  on  a  floor  below  me,  across  a  court- 
yard, and  piously  left  me  alone.  The  feeble  clapping  of 
my  hands  could  not  be  heard,  so  I  rarely  could  get  my 
medicine,  and  only  very  uncertainly  my  food.  The 
doctor  then  brought  me  a  kind  invitation  to  come  and 
stay  with  his  family,  and  this  quite  set  me  on  my  legs 
again. 

Being  most  anxious  to  finish  my  work  from  the  tall 
model  before  the  spring  came  to  an  end,  one  Saturday 
night  I  detained  Ezaak  an  hour  beyond  sunset,  and  sent 
him  to  walk  the  dark  six  miles  to  Bethlehem  that  he  might 
spend  the  Sunday  with  his  family,  giving  him  strict 
injunctions  to  come  back  on  the  Sunday  night  to  be  ready 
for  early  Monday's  work.  On  the  Sunday  I  took  a  ride 
along  the  southern  road,  and  on  the  plain  of  Rephaim 
I  met  Ezaak,  who  assured  me  that  he  was  going  on  to  my 
house  in  the  city.  After  another  mile  or  so  I  turned  my 
horse's  head  round  and  went  back  to  sup  with  Dr.  Chaplin  ; 
my  handsome  Abyssinian  "  Gabriel "  was  there  waiting 
upon  me,  and  when  he  heard  me  saying  that  I  must  be  up 
before  the  sun  to-morrow  to  work  from  my  Bethlehem 
man,  he  bent  down  and  whispered  to  me  that  Ezaak 
was  in  prison  for  a  murder  that  he  had  committed  on 
Saturday  night. 

"  No,"  I  said,  "  I  have  just  met  him  on  the  plain,  and 
sent  him  on  to  the  house." 

"  Yes,"  he  returned,  "  but  coming  in  by  the  Jaffa  Gate 
he  was  recognised  and  seized  by  the  police." 

Thereupon  I  wrote  a  note,  saying  that  I  felt  sure  it 
must  be  a  mistake,  and  that  it  was  important  that  he  should 
be  released  at  once  unless  the  case  were  very  serious.  The 
reply  was  that  he  could  not  be  liberated. 

The  next  morning  instead  of  painting  I  had  to  hurry 
off  to  see  the  Pasha  ;  he  had  gone  to  do  honour  at  a 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      303 

ceremony  in  the  Armenian  Church.  I  followed  on  his 
footsteps,  but  found  the  church  full  of  pilgrims,  so  that  I 
saw  it  would  require  particular  influence  to  get  through 
them.  I  sent  my  card  by  a  functionary  to  the  Pasha, 
and  in  return  his  secretary  came  to  me.  I  explained  at 
once  that  I  did  not  want  the  course  of  justice  inter- 
fered with,  but  that  unless  my  man  had  been  guilty 
of  some  atrocious  crime,  I  should  be  glad  to  have  him 
liberated  in  the  interim,  and  would  incur  responsibility 
for  him. 

The  secretary  immediately  said,  "  Then  are  you  the 
English  artist  painting  a  large  picture  of  a  Bethlehem 
man  and  woman  ?  " 

"  Yes,"  I  said. 

"  Oh,"  he  replied,  "  the  Pasha  has  been  talking  to  me 
about  it,  and  has  been  wanting  me  to  come  and  visit  you 
to  know  when  he  may  see  the  picture." 

I  said  it  would  be  better  to  wait  a  little,  till  I  had 
got  it  quite  finished,  when  I  would  invite  him  to  do  me 
the  honour  of  seeing  it.  "  But,"  I  asked,  "  what  about 
the  man  ?  " 

"  Oh,  I  will  write  you  an  order  for  his  liberation." 

I  interrupted,  "  If  he  has  been  really  guilty  of 
murder." 

"  Oh  !  no  matter,  no  matter,  take  this."  And  so  I  went 
away  armed  with  "  An  Order  of  Release." 

On  the  way  I  remembered  terrible  stories  that  had 
been  told  me  about  Ezaak's  youth,  and  how  he  had  once 
with  some  other  wild  spirits  broken  into  the  Church  of 
the  Nativity  and  stolen  the  gold  and  jewels  from  the 
Byzantine  pictures  of  the  Virgin  and  Child  on  the  altar, 
and  how  he  had  been  the  terror  of  the  neighbourhood  on 
the  roads  for  a  time.  I  had  not  believed  these  stories, 
although  some  dames  of  the  city  had  shaken  their  heads 
at  me,  saying  they  could  not  understand  how  I  could 
venture  to  have  him  sleeping  in  my  house,  and  go  out 
with  him  on  long  rides  to  remote  regions. 

I    had    indeed    alwavs    found    him    a    verv    intelligent 

.  D 


304         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

fellow,  and  I  had  perfect  confidence  in  his  trustworthiness. 
When  I  arrived  at  the  prison  I  was  admitted  into  a  large 
courtyard  full  of  Bethlehemites,  with  many  of  their 
mothers  and  wives  sitting  beside  them  looking  woebegone 
and  weeping,  who  at  sight  of  me  all  clamoured  that  I 
would  get  their  respective  relatives  released,  to  which 
appeals,  however,  I  had  to  declare  my  powerlessness. 
The  head  of  the  police,  asking  many  questions  as  to  why 
I  wanted  Ezaak,  then  said  he  would  see  if  he  could  be 
got  off,  and  quickly  left  me. 

Waiting  unconscionably  long,  I  sent  again  ;  when  the 
official  came  I  reminded  him  that  the  Pasha's  order  must 
be  obeyed  at  once. 

"  Yes,"  he  said,  "  but  there  are  many  expenses,  and  till 
these  are  met  I  cannot  get  the  prison  door  open." 

This  statement  made  it  clear  why  there  were  so  many 
prisoners  on  this  one  charge,  so  I  took  from  my  pocket 
a  sovereign.  Almost  immediately  Ezaak  came  up  to 
me  and  we  sallied  forth  into  Christian  Street.  When 
out  of  hearing,  I  accosted  him  with  reproof  for  his 
riotous  behaviour,  saying,  "  I  have  used  my  influence  on 
this  occasion,  Ezaak,  but  I  am  not  very  comfortable  at 
having  done  so,  and  I  must  tell  you  that  if  you  indulge 
your  bloodthirsty  disposition  while  in  my  service,  I  will 
not  again  attempt  to  protect  you." 

"  But  I  have  done  nothing,  ya  Khowagha." 

"  Nonsense,"  I  interrupted  him.  "  I  don't  know  exactly 
what  the  facts  are,  but  I  have  heard  that  there  was  a  fight 
on  Saturday  evening  at  Bethlehem  and  there  were  two  men 
killed,  and  you  are  accused  of  having  had  something  to 
do  with  it  ;  unless  there  had  been  some  foundation  for 
the  charge  why  should  they  have  apprehended  you  ?  " 

His  argument  was  conclusive.  "  I  suppose,  ya  Moallim, 
you  had  to  pay  the  head  policeman,  notwithstanding  the 
strength  of  the  Pasha's  order,  and  I  had  also  to  give  him 
all  the  money  I  had.  There  was  a  fight  at  Bethlehem  on 
Saturday  afternoon,  but  you  will  remember  I  did  not 
leave  your  house  till  past  six,  and  did  not  arrive  home 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      305 

till  about  eight  ;  this  was  four  hours  after  the  disturbance, 
but  the  Turkish  police  made  it  an  occasion  for  seizing 
every  Bethlehemite  who  came  into  Jerusalem,  and  few  of 
them  will  escape  until  they  have  sold  up  every  scrap  of 
property  belonging  to  their  families."  Then  he  kissed  my 
hand  for  my  favour  to  him,  and  I  admitted  that  he 
had  justified  himself,  which  later  became  even  more 
apparent. 

Slowly  I  brought  my  picture  to  a  conclusion.  I  could 
not  forget  my  promise  to  show  the  picture,  ere  it  left 
Jaffa,  to  the  Pasha  and  several  other  dignitaries  and 
Europeans  dwelling  in  the  place.  Miss  Hoffmann, 
whose  permanent  post  was  in  Jerusalem  as  superintend- 
ent of  an  institution  for  the  employment  of  divorced 
Jewesses,  kindly  consented  to  sit  in  my  reception  room 
and  watch  that  the  conditions  I  imposed  should  not  be 
infringed  by  native  visitors  if  I  were  out  of  the  way. 

Before  seven  in  the  morning  the  Pasha  and  his  staff 
arrived,  and  it  was  of  interest  to  me  to  hear  and  explain 
the  particular  enigmas  that  presented  themselves  to  their 
uninitiated  minds.  With  ejaculated  compliments  they 
stayed  awhile,  not  leaving  before  the  Greek  party  with 
the  Patriarch  had  arrived,  and  these  also  appeared  much 
interested.  I  asked  the  Patriarch  whether  they  did  not  read 
the  phrase  in  St.  Mark  as  meaning  that  Christ  was  himself 
a  carpenter,  and  he  unhesitatingly  said  that  rercTayv,  the 
word  in  the  Gospel,  undoubtedly  meant  that  occupation. 

Going  backwards  and  forwards  to  my  packing  between 
these  visits,  I  heard  an  extraordinary  hubbub  coming 
from  below.  "  What  is  that  noise?  "  I  asked  of  Gabriel. 

He  replied,  with  a  great  sense  of  importance,  "  It 
is  the  little  shopkeepers,  masons,  and  work-people  of  the 
neighbourhood,  who,  seeing  the  Pasha's  party  and  the 
Patriarch's  coming  and  going  irom  the  house,  have  knocked 
to  know  whether  there  is  not  something  to  see,  adding 
that  they  would  like  to  come  up  with  the  others.  I  have 
explained  it  is  not  for  people  like  them,  it  is  only  to 
great  personages  that  the  picture  is  shown,  but  they  are 
VOL.  n  x 


306         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

still  waiting  and  blocking  up  the  streets,  so  that  the  invited 
efFendis  can  scarcely  get  to  the  door." 

I  ordered  my  man  to  go  down  to  the  crowd  and  say 
that  I  could  not  allow  them  to  come  in  and  interfere  with 
the  convenience  of  my  invited  guests,  but  that  if  they 
would  divide  themselves  into  twenties  at  a  time,  they 
might  all  come  up  in  turn,  under  promise  to  move  away 
where  my  friends  were  to  be  accommodated,  and  in  this 
way  the  room  was  filled  continually  till  late  in  the  evening. 

Once  I  was  sent  for,  with  the  message  that  a  man 
particularly  wished  to  see  me  before  he  left.  He  was  a 
mason,  dusty  and  splashed  with  lime-wash,  as  were  his 
companions.  With  great  courtesy  he  spoke :  "  Ya  Effendi, 
you  have  done  us  a  great  kindness  in  allowing  us  to  see 
your  picture.  We  had  only  before  known  such  pictures 
as  those  in  the  Church  of  the  Sepulchre,  but  we  had 
heard  of  Frank  paintings  and  had  often  desired  to  see  them, 
so  this  opportunity  is  more  enjoyed  by  us  than  perhaps 
you  can  easily  understand.  We  shall  always  remember  it 
with  thanks,  but  we  want  you  to  do  us  one  more  favour  ; 
the  lady  here  will  not  allow  us  to  step  over  the  cord  to  go 
up  and  touch  the  picture,  although  we  promise  not  to  do 
it  any  harm.  Now,  while  you  are  here  you  can  see  us, 
and  we  beg  permission  to  go  and  put  our  fingers  on  it." 

"  No,"  I  said,  "  that  cannot  be  ;  it  would  get  soiled  ; 
the  more  because  some  of  the  paint  is  scarcely  dry.  But 
what  can  be  your  object  in  wishing  to  touch  it  ? "  I 
said. 

"Well,"  he  replied,  "we  want  to  feel  what  is  the 
difference  between  the  linen  and  the  flesh,  the  sky  and 
the  shavings  ;  we  have  seen  it  with  our  eyes,  and  we 
want  to  feel  it  with  our  hands." 

"  No,"  I  said  ;  "  I  will  show  you  another  unfinished 
picture,  and  you  will  see  that  there  is  no  difference  in  the 
surface  at  all." 

"Ah,  but  we  want  to  touch  the  large  finished  one." 

I  had  to  be  firm,  although  I  am  sure  it  must  have 
seemed  to  him  and  his  friends  unkind,  but  then  he 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      307 

importuned  another  favour,  which  he  urged  in  the  name 
of  all  his  friends.  It  was  that  I  should  turn  the  picture 
round  and  show  them  the  back. 

"  That  also  is  impossible,"  I  declared.  "  Don't  you  see 
it  is  arranged  at  the  exact  angle  not  to  reflect  the  glitter 
of  the  window  light  upon  its  surface,  and  if  I  were  to 
turn  it  round  it  would  take  long  to  put  it  right  again, 
and  other  people  who  came  would  not  be  able  to  see  it  "  ; 
taking  up  a  portable  canvas  I  showed  the  back.  "  It  is 
just  like  this,  a  mere  framework  of  wood,"  I  said. 

"  Yes,  that  may  be,"  he  returned,  "  but  we  should  like 
to  see  the  back  of  that  one." 

"  But  it  could  be  of  no  interest  to  you,"  I  said.  At 
which  the  group  seemed  very  dejected,  till  another 
spokesman  stepped  forward,  saying  : 

"  1  think  that  I  can  convince  you,  O  Moallim,  why  we 
ask  this  kindness  ;  we  have  been  here  twenty  minutes 
looking  at  the  front  of  the  Messiah  and  the  back  of  the  Sit 

o 

Miriam  ;  is  it  not  natural  that  now  we  should  wish  to  see 
the  face  of  Sit  Miriam  and  the  back  of  the  Christ?" 

They  were  utterly  unsatisfied  with  my  explanations 
that  they  would  not  see  what  they  wanted  were  the 
picture  turned  round.  One  tall  and  large-framed  negress 
repeated  her  visits  throughout  the  day  ;  towards  the 
evening  a  well-informed  critical  member  of  the  crowd 
addressed  her,  saying,  "  Do  you  know  the  M'sowah  took 
three  years  about  this  picture  ?  " 

"  Did  he  ?  "  she  said.  "  I  can  imagine  that  I  might  have 
worked  at  it  for  three  years,  and  it  would  not  have  been 
done  yet,"  which  statement  the  crowd  partly  accepted. 

Except  one  party  of  Latins,  who  came  from  Bethlehem, 
no  others  of  the  Roman  community  appeared  among  the 
throng  of  visitors.  A  day  after,  I  inquired  of  an  im- 
partial person  why  this  was,  and  heard  that  the  papal 
dignitaries  had  decided  that  the  representation  of  the 
Holy  Virgin  with  the  face  hidden  was  denounced  as  a 
Protestant  indignity  to  the  Madonna,  and  they  had  for- 
bidden all  of  their  Church  to  come.  They  had  posted 


308          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

sentinels  at  the  Jaffa  Gate  to  caution  their  members  from 
Bethlehem  not  to  appear,  and  the  party  of  three  who  came 
had  remained  ignorant  of  this  interdict  by  coming 
through  the  Damascus  Gate.  I  had  indeed  tried  many 
arrangements  in  order  that  the  Virgin's  face  should  be 
shown,  but  I  had  rejected  all,  from  conviction  that 
nothing  but  the  direct  glance  at  the  shadow  gave  the 
tragedy  of  the  idea. 

The  war  had  shut  up  most  routes  across  the  Continent 
for  a  time,  but  I  despatched  my  picture  from  Jaffa,  via 
Gibraltar,  and  then  took  my  own  course  to  Trieste. 

The  Austrian  Lloyd's  boat  was  still  engineered  by  the 
Englishman  Thompson,  who  had  been  present  at  the 
battle  of  Lissa.  He  was  the  first  to  give  an  historical 
account  in  The  Times  when  all  Europe  had  been  breathless 
with  anxiety  for  more  than  a  week  to  know  the  real  issue 
of  the  fight.  He  explained  to  me  the  circumstances  as 
we  passed  by  the  island  in  the  Adriatic.  Proceeding  from 
Trieste,  after  a  day's  stay  at  Vienna,  I  found  it  practicable 
to  proceed  through  France,  and  that  Paris  itself  was  open. 
Very  lamentable  it  was  to  go  through  the  cordon  of  ruins 
caused  by  the  German  siege,  and  still  more  in  Paris  to  see 
the  havoc  wrought  by  the  Communists. 

When  the  picture  arrived  in  London,  large  studios  in 
those  days  being  rare,  it  was  difficult  to  find  a  vacant  one 
of  sufficient  size,  but  Millais,  with  his  wonted  good-nature, 
made  over  his  painting-room  to  me  during  his  autumn 
holiday,  commenting  with  frank  but  appreciative  candour 
on  the  work  which  hitherto  no  other  instructed  eye  had 
seen. 

My  return  brought  with  it  realisation  of  sorrow, 
caused  by  the  recent  death  of  Robert  B.  Martineau. 
He  had  of  late  been  painting  some  excellent  heads,  and 
making  several  beautiful  drawings  full  of  dignity 
of  style  ;  his  last  occupation  had  been  on  a  large 
picture  representing  a  young  girl  in  John's  reign  de- 
fending a  poor  Jew  who  was  being  insulted  and  mal- 
treated by  a  "  Christian  "  mob.  This  also  in  its  design 


xi        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      309 

and  beginning  and  the  parts  finished  had  a  similar  largeness 
of  style. 

"  The  Last  Day  in  the  Old  Home  "  l  is  now  unfortu- 
nately terribly  cracked  in  its  principal  parts  ;  this  is 
owing  to  an  incorrigible  habit  he  contracted  of  painting 


• 


R.OBKRT    B.     MARTINEAU. 


over  and  over  again  his  yesterday's  work  while  still  wet. 
It  was  impossible  to  remedy  the  evil  until  it  had  got  to 
its  worst,  or  I  would  have  restored  it  ere  it  was  taken 
over  by  the  Tate  Gallery. 

The  sudden  change  of  climate  had  made  me  ill,  so  I 
was   unable   to   use   my  time   profitably  for  the  fastidious 

1    Now  in  the  Tate  Collection. 


310         PRE-RAPHAELTTISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

amendments  which  my  rested  eyes  prompted  me  to  make, 
and  I  had  to  engage  another  studio  for  six  months. 
Winter  fogs  coming  on  delayed  my  work,  and  again  I  had 
to  find  accommodation.  My  old  friend  Burchett,  the 
head  master  of  the  School  of  Design  at  Kensington,  saved 
me  from  further  search  by  inviting  me  to  make  use  of  his 
own  painting-room. 

When  I  had  brought  my  work  on  "  The  Shadow  of 
Death "  to  a  conclusion,  there  was  some  hitch  in  the 
business  arrangements  concerning  it.  My  good  friend 
Sir  Thomas  Fairbairn  came  to  my  aid  and  negotiated  the 
terms  of  its  sale  to  Messrs.  Agnew  and  Sons.  Five 

o 

thousand  five  hundred  pounds  were  to  be  paid  down  for 
the  large  picture  and  for  the  first  study,  a  similar  sum 
to  be  received  by  me  in  the  future.  It  was  now  required 
that  I  should  make  a  quarter-size  and  elaborate  copy 
for  the  use  of  the  engraver.  The  original  painting 
was  exhibited  for  a  long  term  in  London,  and  then 
sent  to  Oxford.  As  in  Jerusalem,  the  extreme  Church 
party  denounced  it  as  blasphemous,  altogether  refusing 
to  acknowledge  that  the  record  in  St.  Mark  should 
be  read  as  authority  for  representing  Jesus  Christ  as 
Himself  a  carpenter,  but  the  picture  did  not  long  remain 
there.  When  it  was  shown  in  the  North  it  was  hailed 
by  artisans  and  other  working  men  as  a  representation 
which  excited  their  deepest  interest,  so  that  they  came 
to  the  agent,  asking  him  to  receive  subscriptions  for  the 
two-guinea  print,  week  by  week  in  instalments,  that  the 
idea  might  always  be  before  them  in  their  own  homes. 
This  was  exactly  what  I  most  desired,  the  dutiful  humility 
of  Christ's  life  thus  carrying  its  deepest  lesson. 

Elizabeth  Thompson  astonished  the  world  in  1874  by 
her  deeply  interesting  picture  of  "The  Roll  Call."  It  was 
a  poetically  selected  incident  from  the  tragedy  of  the  battle- 
field, and  while  it  was  treated  with  unaffected  naturalness, 
it  was  presented  with  such  primal  simplicity  that  to  every 
one  it  bore  a  typical  meaning  of  universal  application.  Her 
later  paintings  have  increased  respect  for  her  accomplish- 


xr        PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      311 

ments  as  an  artist,  and  as  a  portrayer  of  the  terrible 
heroism  of  the  battle-field.  Some  years  before  this,  Briton 
Riviere  claimed  admiration  for  his  exquisite  graceful  treat- 
ment of  animals  in  a  succession  of  pictures,  amongst  which 
were  "  His  Only  Friend,"  "  Circe,"  and  "  Sympathy." 


CHAPTER  XII 

1873-1887 

Whereupon  the  child  said  :  Verily  I  am  the  servant  of  God  ;  he 
hath  given  me  the  book  of  the  gospel  and  hath  appointed  me  a 
prophet.  And  he  hath  made  me  blessed,  wheresoever  I  shall  be  ; 
and  hath  commanded  me  to  observe  prayer  and  to  give  alms,  so 
long  as  I  shall  live  ;  and  he  hath  made  me  dutiful  towards  my 
mother  and  hath  not  made  me  proud  or  unhappy.  And  Peace  be 
on  me  the  day  whereon  I  was  born,  and  the  day  whereon  I  die, 
and  the  day  whereon  I  shall  be  raised  to  life.  This  was  Jesus,  the 
Son  of  Mary,  the  Word  of  truth  concerning  whom  they  doubt. 

The  Koran. 

And  whosoever  shall  fall  on  this  stone  shall  be  broken  ;  but  on 
whomsoever  it  shall  fall,  it  will  grind  him  to  powder. — ST.  MATTHEW. 

THE  Franco-German  war  had  brought  many  French 
artists  to  England,  some  of  whom  had  returned  to  Paris, 
while  others  remained  here.  One  evening  at  a  small 
bachelors'  gathering  at  Millais'  studio,  a  foreigner,  being 
told  that  I  had  just  returned  from  Jerusalem,  asked  if  I 
were  Holman  Hunt,  the  painter  of  "  The  Finding  of  Christ 
in  the  Temple,"  which  he  had  lately  seen  in  Mr.  Charles 
Mathews'  collection.  He  said  that  he  had  admired  it  and 
my  principle  of  work  so  much  that  he  had  resolved  some 
day  to  go  to  the  East  and  paint  on  the  same  system.  I 
then  learnt  that  this  artist  was  young  "Tissot." 

I  stayed  a  time  in  London  to  paint  a  few  family 
portraits,  and  while  preparing  for  the  exhibition  of  my 
picture  I  frequently  saw  my  friend  Charles  Collins.  He 
was  much  debilitated  in  health,  sad,  but  always  philo- 
sophical, yet  as  perplexed  as  ever  to  make  up  his  mind 

312 


U /. .  /Lo4rr 


CH.XII  PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD  313 

as  to  which  of  any  two  courses  he  should  adopt.  One 
morning  he,  in  the  company  of  Millais,  came  over  to  me 
while  I  was  at  work  ;  he  was  more  feeble  in  his  gait  than 

O 

had  become  habitual  with  him.  I  went  out  with  him  and 
Millais  to  the  landing,  and  stood  watching  them  as  they 
descended.  It  was  the  last  time  I  was  ever  to  see  him 
alive,  for  in  a  few  days  I  was  standing  by  his  bedside 

****/    °f  nti  tfut, 
ila,  /&*     a 
u'f/i  ffriM  l(\<-> 

**•« 
,  .n&*'  j/i*  M<r/v, 


If--.  H.  H. 

CHARLES    A.    COLLINS. 


drawing  his  portrait  as  he  lay  dead.  This  I  gave  to  his 
brother  Wilkie,  who  in  the  end  left  it  to  me.  On  his  bed 
lay  the  canvas,  taken  off  the  strainer,  with  the  admirably 
executed  background  painted  at  Worcester  Park  Farm. 
For  the  last  few  years  he  had  not  touched  a  brush,  being- 

*  O 

entirely  disenchanted  with  the  pursuit  of  painting  ;  yet 
his  delicacy  of  handling  and  his  rendering  of  tone  and 
tint  had  been  exquisite.  Certain  errors  of  proportion 
marred  his  picture  "  Convent  Thoughts,"  or  it  would  have 
been  a  typical  work  of  unforgettable  account  despite  its 


3H  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.XII 

puerile  leading  idea.  At  the  time  of  the  vacancy  in  our 
Brotherhood  occasioned  by  the  retirement  of  Collinson,  I 
judged  him  to  be  the  strongest  candidate  as  to  workman- 
ship, and  certainly  he  could  well  have  held  the  field 
for  us  had  he  done  himself  justice  in  design  and 
possessed  courage  to  keep  to  his  purpose.  In  his  last 
artistic  struggle  Collins  continually  lost  heart  when  any 
painting  had  progressed  half-  way  towards  completion, 
abandoning  it  for  a  new  subject,  and  this  vacillation  he 
indulged  until  he  had  a  dozen  or  more  relinquished 
canvases  on  hand  never  to  be  completed.  Of  late  years 
he  had  taken  to  writing,  writing  a  New  Sentimental 
Journey  and  A  Cruise  upon  Wheels. 

Brown  at  this  time  had  met  with  some  comparative 
success,  and  had  removed  to  Fitzroy  Square,  where  he 
at  times  gave  receptions,  brilliant  in  the  celebrity  of  the 
guests,  and  cordial  in  hospitality  of  the  host  and  hostess 
proud  in  the  high  reputation  of  their  friends.  Brown  was 
able  in  the  new  home  to  show  several  of  his  large  works, 
which  thus  found  purchasers.  Perhaps  it  was  his  French 
spirit  of  comradeship,  or  his  sympathy  for  all  revolutionists, 
that  h  '  made  him  follow  with  great  concern  the  fortunes 
of  the  communists  in  Paris.  When  they  were  driven  out, 
hea-'ng  of  a  refugee  in  London,  he  invited  him,  his 
wife,  and  his  son  to  take  up  their  quarters  in  his  home  ; 
accordingly  the  three  formed  part  of  the  circle,  and 
Brown  orgr'iised  lectures  and  sold  tickets  to  individuals 
of  advanced  ideas  eager  to  applaud  the  leader  in  the 
last  Parisian  revolt.  A  mild-mannered  gentleman  he 
seemed  to  be,  while  he  explained  the  exalted  hopes 
of  his  party's  aspirations,  the  son  was  disposed  to  put  the 
parental  free  ideas  into  practice  in  daily  life  ;  and  acting 
contrary  to  the  interests  of  the  father,  provoked  his 
wrath,  who  with  oaths  declared  that  he  would  make  the 
son  see  that  he  would  have  no  "  confounded  communism  " 
in  his  own  home.  Brown  was  at  this  time  painting  "  Don 
Juan,"  and  his  son  Oliver  was  fast  proving  his  capacity 
both  as  painter  and  author. 


CONVENT    THOUGHTS. 

(See  passes  251  and  294,  volume  i.) 


3i6         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

I  soon  became  ready  to  start  again  for  the  East ! 
As  this  record  purports  to  give  the  experience  of  living 
artists  which  should  be  of  value  to  succeeding  painters,  I 
am  impelled  to  give  more  exact  particulars  than  otherwise 
I  should  do  of  the  ill  consequences  of  neglect  of  a 
standing  rule  for  travellers  departing  for  a  spell  of  work 
in  uncivilised  regions.  All  materials  necessary  to  the  task 
should  be  dispatched  before  one  leaves  home,  or  taken 
under  one's  own  guardianship.  I  had  packed  my  paint- 
ing materials  in  three  cases  of  size  and  shape  suitable 
for  the  back  of  mule  or  camel  in  Palestine.  Each  was 
screwed  down  perfectly,  addressed  with  the  name  of  agents 
and  route.  I  had  arranged  with  a  London  firm  to  call  for 
them  on  the  morning  of  my  departure.  The  van  had  not 
arrived  when  I  started,  but  this  did  not  seem  to  be  a 
serious  matter,  as  my  landlord  could  be  trusted  to  obey 
my  instructions.  The  few  hours  of  delay  were,  however, 
pregnant  with  evil  consequences,  for  they  frustrated  all 
my  thought-out  arrangements. 

I  went  to  Neufchatel  to  be  married  to  the  sister  of  my 
first  wife,  my  early  friend  Mrs.  Craik  escorting  her  thither  ; 
from  that  place  we  travelled  -via  Venice  down  the  Adriatic 
to  Alexandria,  meeting  my  son,  now  nine  years  of  age, 
en  route.  I  went  across  the  Continent,  spending  a  little  time 
in  Switzerland,  Verona,  and  Venice,  and  so  departed  down 
the  Adriatic  for  Alexandria  and  Jaffa.  On  landing,  I  made 
it  my  first  business  to  apply  to  the  native  agent  for  my  three 
cases,  which  to  my  astonishment  had  not  arrived.  Leav- 
ing instructions  that  he  should  on  their  arrival  telegraph 
to  me,  I  went  up  to  Jerusalem.  Rumours  of  impending 
war  between  Russia  and  Turkey  began  to  thunder 
amongst  the  people  of  the  country,  and  the  angry 
feelings  engendered  among  the  Moslems  crippled  my 
choice  of  action.  The  landlord  of  my  house  "  Dar 
Berruk  Dar  "  had  spent  nothing  on  repairs,  consequently 
rain,  moth,  and  rust  had  devastated  the  place  and 
made  it  uninhabitable  ;  all  my  artistic  materials  were 
seriously  damaged,  so  that  I  had  no  supplies  in  reserve  for 


xri       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      317 


work.  The  study  for  "The  Triumph  of  the  Innocents," 
having  been  packed  away,  had  alone  escaped  injury.  I 
had  left  Jerusalem  on  the  last  occasion  with  the  thought 
that  my  absence  would  be  but  for  a  few  months  ;  nearly 
three  years,  however,  had  passed,  and  now  I  was  driven  to 
abandon  my  ghostly  tenement  and  to  take  up  quarters  at  an 
hotel  until  a  house  outside  the  town  should  be  ready  for 


ii'.  //.  //. 

MY    WIFE,    KDITH    HOLMAN    HUNT. 

us.  Having  suffered  from  want  of  space  and  light  while 
painting  previous  pictures,  I  bought  a  piece  of  ground 
to  build  a  house  thereon,  with  a  large  studio  suitable  for 
several  compositions  which  I  proposed  to  paint.  The 
subject,  "  The  Flight  into  Egypt,"  it  may  be  remembered, 
I  had  chosen  as  one  of  those  for  the  decoration  of  the 
Church  of  St.  Michael  and  All  Angels  at  Cambridge, 
and  had  abandoned  it  on  discovering  that  the  idea  of 
the  service  of  angels  had  already  been  often  treated  by 
old  masters. 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


On  my  return  to  England  in  1856  after  my  first 
journey,  my  friend  George  Grove  had  asked  me  many 
questions  about  Syria,  and  with  his  usual  energy  soon 
afterwards  he  paid  a  hasty  visit  to  Jerusalem,  and  on  his 
return  he  instigated  the  establishment  of  the  Palestine 


SKKTCH     MADE    IN    SYNAGOGUE. 


Exploration  Society  for  surveying  land  and  making 
excavations.  Officers  of  the  Royal  Engineers  were 
appointed  to  engage  in  this  object.  Sir  Charles  Wilson 
began  investigations,  and  Sir  Charles  Warren  was 
just  concluding  his  explorations  when  I  arrived  on  the 
second  occasion.  Lieutenant  Conder  had  been  active 
since  then,  and  Lieutenant  Kitchener  had  taken  his  place, 
and  was  completing  the  survey.  In  a  few  months 


xii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      319 

Kitchener  appeared  at  Jerusalem,  and  remained  encamped 
for  a  while,  concluding  his  task  ere  departure.  We  thus 
had  many  opportunities  of  talking  together  about  the 
future  military  prospects  of  Syria,  which  confirmed  my 
idea  that,  after  all,  the  Jews  must  be  restored  to  their 
ancient  land.  I  will  not  make  my  now  distinguished 
friend,  Viscount  Kitchener,  responsible  for  the  con- 


FROM    6KKTCH-BOOK. 


elusions  which  I  formed  upon  the  rival  ambition  of 
the  European  Powers  as  it  affects  this  question  ;  he 
certainly  strengthened  my  opinion  that  any  politico- 
military  attempt  of  a  European  power  to  take  Palestine 
for  itself  would  result  in  its  being  broken  to  pieces. 
None  but  a  people  sustained  by  mutual  consent,  such 
as  the  Turks  happen  to  be  at  present,  and  such  as 
the  Jews  might  be,  could  be  left  in  peace.  Seeing  that 
every  day  there  was  the  uncertainty  as  to  what  the  result 


320 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


of  the  new  quarrel  between  Russia  and  Turkey  would 
be,  the  topic  of  the  future  of  Palestine  was  pertinent. 
Sometimes  the  indignation  in  the  Moslem  mind,  excited 
by  inflammatory  newspapers  read  in  the  market-places, 
became  alarming  to  Christians.  Unfortunately,  during 
each  of  my  sojourns  in  this  country  a  terrible  war  had 
broken  out  that  had  occasioned  unusual  difficulties  to 
Europeans  living  there. 


FROM     SKKTCH-BOOK. 


With  every  mail  inquiry  about  my  missing  cases  at 
Jaffa  proved  to  be  in  vain,  and  my  letters  from  England 
brought  me  only  bewildering  responses  to  my  questions. 
When  it  occurred  to  me  that  there  was  no  sure  hope 
of  recovering  them,  I  was  disposed  to  go  to  Alexandria, 
or  perhaps  even  to  Naples,  for  fresh  materials,  but 
whisperings  of  an  intended  massacre  of  the  Christians, 
when  the  Moslems  were  assured  that  the  English  were 
no  longer  going  to  help  them  against  Russia,  were  too 


xii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      321 

loud  to  permit  me  to  leave  my  family  unguarded.  The 
baby  models  used  in  my  preparations  were  fast  growing  out 
of  their  outlines.  I  was  driven,  therefore,  of  necessity  to 
search  in  the  bazaar  for  the  best  linen  to  be  found  there. 
I  put  to  the  test  a  portion  of  linen  on  which  to  paint  my 
picture  entitled  "  The  Ship."  I  had  made  elaborate 
sketches  on  board  the  P.  and  O.  boat  on  our  way  from 
Venice,  seeing  that  the  man  at  the  wheel  still  guided  the 
vessel  from  the  stern,  and  thus  I  was  able  to  illustrate 
Tennyson's  quatrain — 

I  hear  the  noise  about  thy  keel, 
I  hear  the  bell  struck  in  the  night, 
I  see  the  cabin  window  bright, 
I  see  the  sailor  at  the  wheel  ! 

The  linen  was  amply  stout  for  this  small  picture,  and  I 
was  therefore  persuaded  to  trust  my  chances  to  it  for 
the  larger  painting.  But  when  pulling  the  cloth  tight 
over  the  large  framework  it  rent  at  the  edge,  so  that 
I  had  to  stop  short  of  the  usual  tension,  and  to  be 
satisfied  with  a  smaller  degree  of  tautness.  The  cakes 
of  flake  white  purchased  in  the  bazaar,  owing  to  the 
great  strength  of  acid  used  in  its  manufacture,  needed 
abundant  washing.  With  the  residuum  I  made  a  ground 
which  in  itself  was  most  pleasant  to  paint  upon.  The 
figures  of  little  children  which  I  first  painted  were  mainly 
near  the  boundary  line  of  the  cloth  ;  the  thready  texture 
at  once  occasioned  me  great  increase  of  labour,  still 
while  my  painting  was  confined  to  these  parts  I  was  not 
so  far  discouraged  as  to  think  my  task  impracticable. 

When  the  spring  had  enriched  the  land  with  verdure, 
I  made  an  expedition  down  to  Philistia  towards  the 
south  to  gain  the  further  features  for  the  landscape  which 
I  had  not  been  able  to  secure  when  there  before.  Just  as 
I  was  setting  out  I  received  a  telegram  from  the  agent  at 
Jaffa,  to  state  that  not  three  cases  of  the  dimensions  I  had 
expected,  but  one  of  enormous  size,  had  been  deposited 
on  the  quay,  and  could  be  moved  no  farther.  I  directed 
my  muleteer  and  tent  servant  to  await  me  next  day  at  a 

VOL.    II  Y 


322 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM 


CH.  XII 


trysting-place  on  the  Jaffa  road,  and  started  before  dawn 
for  the  seaport.  When  I  arrived  there,  the  mammoth 
case  lay  with  its  bulging  lid,  and  hinges  and  lock,  the 
latter  fit  only  for  a  schoolboy's  box ;  the  key  had  not  come 
with  it.  Through  the  warping  space  between  the  cover 
and  sides  the  Jaffa  mudlarks  had  been  thrusting  their 
hands,  appropriating  any  articles  that  came  within  their 
grasp.  On  the  lid  being  prised  open  it  turned  out  that 


MY    SON    CYRIL. 


my  three  poor  cases  lay  within.  It  was  a  mockery  to  see 
them  each  properly  addressed  and  ready  for  travel,  buried 
in  their  gigantic  coffin.  They  had  now  to  be  exhumed, 
and  were  sent  up  separately  to  Jerusalem.  From  the  day 
of  my  departure  from  London  to  the  time  of  the  arrival  of 
the  case  at  Jaffa,  five  months  had  elapsed  instead  of  a  fort- 
night, the  time  which  the  carriage  should  have  occupied. 
I  was  now  free  to  meet  my  servants,  who  were  at  the  place 
appointed  on  the  Jaffa  road.  We  turned  thence  to  the  south, 
and  came  upon  an  undulating  country  intersected  by  deep 


w.  //.  //. 

SILVKRPOINT    STUDY  FOR    ST.   JOSEPH    ("TRIUMPH    OF    THE    INNOCENTS"). 


324         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

beds  of  mountain  torrent.  In  the  ruts  where  water  had  run 
the  growths  were  luxuriant,  in  parts  reaching  to  double 
the  height  of  the  rider's  head,  and  near  a  place  called 
Shama  I  settled  upon  a  distant  view  of  the  mountains 
with  the  plain  showing  a  water-course  suitable  to  my 
subject.  Near  at  hand  I  came  upon  the  little  stream- 
way,  with  the  surrounding  banks,  and  the  village  under  a 
clump  of  fir-trees,  the  whole  of  which  suited  the  arrange- 
ment introduced  in  my  picture.  Thus  I  was  provided 
with  the  landscape.  On  my  return  to  Jerusalem,  it  would 
have  been  well  had  I  decided  to  relinquish  the  work 
already  done  on  the  bazaar  linen,  and  to  repeat  it  upon  a 
portion  of  the  English  canvas  which  had  at  last  come  to 
hand,  but  this  would  have  involved  the  sacrifice  of  some 
months'  work,  and  I  persuaded  myself  that  it  would  be 
wiser  to  complete  my  picture  as  it  stood,  and  that  thus  I 
should  sooner  get  free  for  another  design. 

I  had  commenced  the  large  painting  with  the  intention 
of  making  the  effect  that  of  uncheckered  moonlight,  as 
in  the  original  study,  but  when  the  large  work  expanded 
before  me  I  judged  that  in  the  pearly  hue  of  the  moon 
alone,  a  picture  of  such  dimensions  would  be  monotonous  in 
aspect,  and  that  a  supernatural  light  on  the  ghostly  infants 
would  help  to  convey  the  impression  of  their  celestial  nature. 
To  test  the  character  of  intensified  moonlight,  I  used  a 
lens  on  a  bright  night,  and  to  my  surprise  found  that  the 
focus  transmitted  was  not  of  silvery  tone,  but  that  of  warm 
sunlight,  and  this  I  adopted.  With  such  a  chain  of 
entwined  children  in  positions  impossible  for  babies  to 
keep,  the  work  demanded  intense  perseverance  and  study- 
While  the  house  with  the  large  studio  being  built  for  me 
by  a  German  was  still  unfinished,  I  was  not  able  to  bring 
my  work  on  the  children  to  a  complete  stage.  Immedi- 
ately the  studio  was  apparently  ready,  I  took  possession, 
glad  at  having  for  the  first  time  a  proper  working  room. 
The  rains  were  late  this  year,  and  until  these  should  come 
I  had  held  back  200  Napoleons  of  the  final  sum  to  be  paid 
to  the  builder,  but  I  listened  to  the  pleas  of  his  friends, 


xii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD 


325 


and  advanced  the  money  with  nothing  but  a  renewed 
endorsement  of  his  responsibility  for  the  weather-proof 
character  of  the  roof.  When  the  rain  did  come  the  tiles 
and  ceiling  proved  to  be  nothing  but  a  sieve,  and  the  water 
entered,  leaving  pools  all  over  the  floor,  while  my  canvases 
could  be  protected  only  by  tarpaulins  ;  this  caused  much 
bother  and  delay  before  I  could  again  set  to  work. 


MY    DAUGHTER    GLADYS. 


One  morning  I  heard  steps  on  the  staircase,  followed 
by  knocking  on  my  door  ;  when  I  opened  it  a  grinning 
negro  boy  was  standing  there.  Affecting  a  tone  of  great 
responsibility,  he  inquired  whether  a  visit  from  the  ladies 
of  a  neighbouring  effendi  would  be  convenient,  they 
wanted  to  see  the  strange  house.  I  sent  back  an  invita- 
tion, and  in  a  quarter  of  an  hour  I  heard  the  shuffling 
sound  of  many  feet  ascending  the  ladder-stair  to  my 
studio.  I  opened  the  door,  and  encountered  a  party  of 
about  a  dozen  ladies,  the  elder  of  whom,  but  little  above 


326         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

thirty,  was  the  chief  speaker.  She  explained  with  a 
certain  reserved  dignity,  that  they  had  watched  with 
interest  the  building  of  the  house,  and  had  wondered 
at  the  unusual  size  of  the  saloon,  and  the  purpose  for 
which  it  would  be  used  ;  they  hoped  I  would  show  them 
what  I  was  doing  in  it.  I  explained  that  I  had  not  yet 
a  finished  picture  to  show  them,  but  that  they  could 
see  the  sketches  of  different  kinds  which  I  had  prepared 
for  my  future  work.  I  conducted  the  group  of  strictly 
veiled  ladies  around  the  room.  Etiquette  required  that 
whatever  I  said  should  be  addressed  to  the  eldest  wife. 
The  others  made  show  of  not  listening,  but  when  I  had 
finished,  the  first  turned  and  repeated  my  explanations, 
though,  but  for  passive  attention,  no  sign  of  interest  did 
they  yet  exhibit.  They  gathered  gradually  together 
around  the  grotesque  and  stark  lay-figure  which  I  had 
brought  to  Syria  this  time,  having  found  a  need  of  it  in 
the  past  when  I  had  to  paint  one  figure  leaning  against 
another,  or  when,  waiting  for  unpunctual  models,  I  had  no 
choice  but  to  paint  loose  draperies  or  headgear.  There 
the  uncouth  mannikin  was  !  I  felt  the  need  of  apologising 
for  this  unaccountable  interloper.  When  I  was  trying  to 
speak  they  over-ruled  my  excuses  with  exclamations  of 
delight.  Their  eyes  were  lighted  up  with  animation  as 
they  declared  in  a  chorus  that  the  image  was  indeed  truly 
beautiful.  "  See  what  a  lovely  face  she  has  !  What  an 
exquisite  nose  !  What  a  beautiful  little  mouth  !  Oh  ! 
look  at  her  ears,  and  see  what  long  flowing  hair  she  has." 
One  also  drew  attention  to  the  beauty  of  the  fingers  !  At 
this  I  moved  some  of  the  joints,  and  also  bent  the  limbs  in 
various  ways.  As  the  hinges  groaned  and  squeaked,  they 
retreated,  jumping  like  children  with  delight,  but  quickly 
recovering  their  sobriety  of  demeanour,  they  came  back  in 
silent  admiration,  leaving  the  elder  to  speak.  This  lady, 
collecting  her  thoughts,  sedately  addressed  me.  "  We  all 
know  that  the  '  Image  '  is  not  yet  completed."  Pointing 
at  the  time  to  the  winch-holes,  she  proceeded,  "  Of  course 
you  will  have  to  finish  the  figure  where  the  skin  is 


xii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      327 

not  joined  together,  and  you  will  have  to  fix  the  head 
on,  and  to  put  a  little  more  crimson  on  the  lips  and 
cheeks,  but  when  completed  it  will  be  truly  beautiful." 
Exhausting  their  interest  in  this  big  doll,  they  turned  to 
the  painting  on  the  easel.  After  consultation,  the  elder 
exclaimed,  "  It  looks  like  paper  on  the  surface,  but  on  the 
margin  outside  it  is  cloth  !  "  Then,  following  the  outlines 
drawn  on  the  big  canvas,  they  compared  it  with  the  small 
study  of  the  picture.  "  Is  that  a  man  you've  marked  out 
there  ?  "  she  asked.  "  Oh  !  I  see  a  donkey  !  What  a  lot 
of  babies,  and  in  the  middle  is  a  woman  on  a  donkey  with 
a  baby.  What  is  all  this,  O  EfFendi  ?  "  I  replied,  "  Nearly 
nineteen  hundred  years  ago  in  Persia,  certain  wise  men 
on  the  appearance  of  a  great  star  remembered  an  ancient 
prophecy  of  the  coming  Messiah.  They  came  to  this 
country  to  find  him,  and  naturally  they  went  to  the  king, 
thinking  it  would  be  his  son,  as  he  was  to  be  a  Prince. 
Herod  had  to  confess  his  ignorance,  but  professed  to  be 
very  desirous  to  find  the  Messiah,  and  conjured  them  to 
go  on,  and  let  him  know  when  they  had  succeeded.  At 
Bethlehem  they  came  upon  the  Babe  and  His  mother,  the 
'  Sit  Miriam,'  but  learning  that  Herod's  purpose  was  to 
kill  the  Prince  destined  to  be  the  universal  King,  they 
went  home  without  returning  to  Herod.  BafHed  in  every 
way,  he  in  time  determined  to  kill  all  the  children  under 
two  years  of  age  in  David's  city,  to  make  sure  that  his 
own  family  should  not  be  supplanted.  Joseph,  being 
apprised  of  this  intention,  set  out  in  the  night  with  the 
young  child  and  his  mother,  to  escape  to  Egypt.  This 
picture  will  represent  them  when  they  had  passed  over  the 
mountain  into  the  plain  beyond,  leading  to  Gaza."  When 
I  had  finished,  the  duenna  wife  turned  and  repeated  my 
description,  elucidating  it  with,  "  You  know  El  Meluk 
Herod  was  a  very  wicked  king,  and  the  child  Jesus  was 
the  only  being  ever  born  on  earth  who  possessed  the  soul 
of  God." 

The  head  lady  asked  about  the  children.      I  explained 
to  her  that  the  Mother,  rejoicing  at  the  safety  of  her  son, 


328         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

was  moved  to  sympathy  for  the  deaths  of  the  poor  children 
who  were  massacred  in  His  stead,  and  that  her  love  for 
Him  caused  her  to  see  the  spirits  of  the  children,  who  were 
in  their  different  moods,  at  first  sorrowful,  and  then  joyful, 
in  the  heavenly  service  they  had  entered.  She  repeated 
my  monologue,  word  for  word,  and  pointing  to  each 
figure,  counted  them  up,  saying,  "  Seventeen  babies  in  the 
large  picture,  and  several  more  in  the  small  one,  with  the 
Sit  Miriam,  Al  Issa  Messiah,  and  Mar  Jusif.  This  is  very 
well,"  she  said,  "  but  on  the  day  of  judgment  what  will 
you  do  ?"  "Ah,"  I  returned,  "I  can  trust  only  in  the 
mercy  of  the  Beneficent  ;  but  why,  pray,  ask  me  that 
question  ?  "  She  returned,  "  Because  the  souls  of  these 
beings  that  you  have  made  will  be  required  of  you,  and 
what  will  you  say  then?  "  My  reply,  justified  on  meta- 
phorical principles,  was,  "  I  hope  every  one  of  them  will  be 
present  to  justify  me."  She  looked  bewildered,  but  then 
turned  to  her  flock,  re-echoing  my  assurance,  saying,  "  Oh, 
if  indeed  you  can  satisfy  God  the  Just  with  their  souls,  it 
will  be  well  with  you."  Then,  recognising  that  there  was 
nothing  more  to  see,  graciously  expressing  their  thanks, 
the  whole  troop  departed.  This  interview  gave  me  a 
higher  idea  of  the  intelligence  of  superior  Moslem  ladies 
than  I  had  entertained  before. 

Their  visit  had  been  made  during  a  lull  in  the  bitter- 
ness of  temper  on  the  part  of  the  Moslems  towards  the 
Christians,  but  this  better  feeling  had  probably  arisen 
when  there  seemed  to  be  a  prospect  that  the  English,  if 
not  other  Christian  Powers,  would  after  all  come  to  the 
Ottoman  defence.  After  the  visit  of  Lord  Salisbury  to 
the  Sublime  Porte  this  hope  proved  to  be  fallacious,  for  one 
heard  the  Arabs  saying  he  had  been  sent  back  "with  his  face 
blackened."  The  rancour  flamed,  with  fewer  and  shorter 
intervals.  My  wife  and  I  profited  by  one  of  these  to  join 
travelling  friends  in  an  expedition  to  the  Jordan  and  the 
Dead  Sea.  Afterwards,  even  on  rides  of  ten  miles  out  of 
Jerusalem,  we  were  subjected  to  temporary  arrest,  stoppage, 
and  insult,  so  we  had  to  discontinue  all  excursions.  When 


xii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      329 

the  anxiety  became  acute,  the  British  Consul  told  me 
that  he  was  taking  advantage  of  the  return  to  Jaffa  of  a 
party  of  English  officers  and  sailors  to  send  his  wife  to 
the  Greek  convent  there,  and  I  gratefully  sent  my  wife, 
with  my  son,  my  infant  daughter,  tutor  and  nurse, 
under  the  same  escort  to  the  seaport,  where,  as  in  an 
eagle's  eyrie  of  the  rock-built  convent,  they  found  shelter. 
The  fanaticism  never  ceased,  indeed  it  never  died  out 
until  the  massacre  occurred  two  years  later  in  Alexandria 
and  throughout  Egypt,  during  the  rebellion  which  broke 
out  under  Arabi  Pasha.  Had  not  the  bombardment  of 


FROM    SKKTCH-BOOK. 


Alexandria  occurred  the  murderous  feeling  towards 
Christians  would  probably  have  been  indulged  all  over  the 
East.  In  fact  it  was  the  provocation  which  necessitated 
the  occupation  of  Egypt  by  the  English.  After  the 
departure  of  my  family  I  remained  working  with  less 
anxiety  in  the  thought  of  their  safety,  for  in  case  of  an 
outburst  they  could  have  escaped  to  a  flagship  that  plied  to 
and  fro  along  the  coast,  and  I  knew  that  I  could  always 
join  my  Christian  neighbours  in  mutual  defence.  The 
miseries  caused  by  the  conscription  and  the  sending  away  of 
the  fellahin,  bound  together  by  chains,  and  the  consequent 
destitution  and  starvation  of  their  wives  and  children,  it 
would  be  out  of  place  to  attempt  to  describe  here. 

I    had    now  progressed  so   far  with  my  picture,  that  I 


330 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 


developed  the  central  group  and  painted  the  Virgin  and 
Child.  In  the  middle  of  the  picture  the  surface  of  the 
canvas  proved  to  be  so  irregular,  that  although  in  the  light 
suitable  for  the  painting  of  the  head  I  could  regard  it  as 
passable,  on  putting  the  picture  into  a  light  to  suit  the 
general  effect  the  inequalities  in  the  ground  entirely 


FROM    SKETCH-BOOK. 


distorted  the  symmetry  of  form.  I  therefore  tried  fresh 
positions,  in  the  hope  of  finding  other  parts  of  the  canvas 
more  even,  but  there  always  proved  to  be  some  marring 
defect,  until  alter  some  twenty  attempts  I  resolved  to 
postpone  work  on  the  two  principal  figures  until  my 
return  to  England,  when  I  hoped  the  skill  of  a  picture 
liner  would  put  all  right.  I  did  not,  however,  come  to 
this  resolve  before  I  had  spent  many  a  night  with  candle 
in  hand,  testing  the  surface  from  all  points. 


xii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      331 

Even  thus  far  I  had  wasted  much  of  my  best  life. 
After  two  and  a  half  years  I  returned  to  England  with 
nothing  but  this  partly  finished  picture.  When  I  arrived 
in  London,  unpacking  my  painting  was  like  the  reapparition 
of  an  appalling  ghost  that  had  been  laid  for  a  time.  My 
restorer  undertook  to  back  with  a  strong  canvas  my  feeble 
cloth,  but  although  the  prospect  at  first  seemed  hopeful,  it 
was  only  delusive,  for  after  all,  the  original  linen  sheet 
retained  its  corrugations.  Weeks  grew  into  months,  and 
months  into  years — always  promising  to  each  new  effort  a 
success  which  never  came.  It  was  indeed  an  evil  time  ; 
friends  naturally  wondered  at  my  postponement  of  invitation 
to  come  to  my  studio,  and  asked  as  a  joke  whether  I  had 
not  altogether  given  up  painting.  When  I  tried  to  form  a 
clear  judgment  I  often  persuaded  myself  that  another  fort- 
night might  get  me  over  the  difficulty,  for  continually  some 
new  expedient  recommended  itself  to  me  as  promising. 

The  thought  had  grown  of  late  years  that  independent 
artists  needed  further  opportunities  for  exhibition  than 
those  afforded  by  the  Royal  Academy  and  the  existing 
institutions. 

When  I  was  in  Palestine  news  was  brought  me  by 
some  travelling  friends  that  Sir  Coutts  Lindsay  had  built 
the  Grosvenor  Gallery.  In  response  to  his  invitation  I 
finished  and  forwarded  the  picture  of  "  Nazareth,  over- 
looking the  Plain  of  Esdraelon."  l 

I  found  that  among  those  of  our  party  who  had  been 
pressed  to  contribute,  Rossetti,  still  mindful  of  his  indig- 
nation at  the  strictures  of  journalistic  critics,  had  refused  ; 
and  Brown,  who  suspected  that  there  was  some  hidden 
design  in  the  whole  business,  declined  to  have  anything  to 
do  with  it.  Burne-Jones,  who  had  only  exhibited  at  the 
Old  Water  Colour  Society,  and  had  now  retired  from 
that  body,  accepted  the  opportunity  of  showing  his  oil 
paintings  in  public,  and  gained  by  general  acclamation 
a  crown  to  his  hitherto  private  renown. 

I    began    pictures   which,    unhappily,   I    never    gained 

1   Now  in  the  Tavlor  Buildings  at  Oxford. 


332 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 


leisure  to  finish,  and  made  an  etching  of  "  The  Father's 
Leave-taking  "  for  the  Etching  Club. 

On  my  return  from  Palestine,  having  no  figure  picture 
ready  to  represent  my  thirty  months  of  hard  labour  and 
anxiety,  I  contributed  to  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  the  picture 
of  "The  Ship." 

It    was    well-nigh  thirty    years    since    the    conception 


THK    SAILOR     BOYS    RETURN. 


of  our  reform  movement,  and  but  little  less  since  the 
foundation  of  the  P.R.B.  Of  the  latter  I  need  not 
again  speak  as  regards  the  full  seven  ;  but  although 
Rossetti  had  long  since  broken  his  friendship  with  us, 
there  was  still  subsisting  the  unforgettable  link  which 
binds  each  branch  of  the  tree  to  the  trunk.  Rossetti,  who 
never  strictly  adhered  to  the  original  character  of  our 
movement,  had  spread  his  interpretation  of  it  among  his 


xii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      333 

fellows  and  abroad,  and  now  spoke  of  our  combination  as 
"  the  mere  affectation  of  a  parcel  of  boys." 

Woolner,  after  his  return  from  Australia  in  1856,  had 
always  declared  great  zeal  for  unity  with  us,  and  desire  to 
be  remembered  as  one  of  the  original  brethren.  He  had 
lately  found  himself  with  an  open  way  before  him  by  the 
death  of  Foley  and  the  departure  of  Marochetti,  but  to 


THE    FATHERS    LEAVE-TAKING. 


the  surprise  of  many  of  his  friends  he  dissipated  his  energies 
in  making  a  collection  of  pictures.  My  candidly  expressed 
opinion  as  to  the  authenticity  of  certain  of  these  finds 
caused  a  permanent  rupture  of  my  friendship  with  him. 

Millais,  from  the  shelter  of  the  Royal  Academy,  had 
gained  what  was  an  advantage  to  his  professional  position, 
the  reputation,  among  superficial  observers,  of  having 
abjured  our  principles,  which,  seeing  that  the  ordinary 
interpretation  of  our  purpose  was  that  it  was  narrow 


334 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


medievalism    or    Overbeckism,  he    could    conscientiously 
leave  uncontradicted. 

Thus  it  transpired  that  I  alone  still  declared  that  I 
worked  on  the  simple  principle  of  Pre-Raphaelitism,  which, 
being  the  unending  study  of  Nature,  is  an  eternal  law, 
and  the  consequence  of  my  persistence  was  that  I  was 


PORTRAIT     DESIGNS. 


greeted  by  critics  with  pity  and  derision  as  incorrigible 
and  incapable  of  profiting  by  admonition. 

In  subsequent  years  I  sent  portraits  of  my  son  Cyril  and 
of  Sir  Richard  Owen,  with  other  works,  to  the  Grosvenor 
Gallery. 

Observing  that  the  pastel  drawing  of  D.  G.  Rossetti, 
now  removed  from  its  frame,  was  threatened  with  damage, 
and  reflecting  that  it  represented  the  poet-artist  at  an  age 
when  his  earnestness  was  shown  in  his  face  more  than 


xii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      335 

in  later  years,  William  Rossetti  allowed  me  to  make  an 
oil-painting  of  this  likeness  of  my  erewhile  pupil.  I 
exhibited  it  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery,  as  also  "  Amaryllis  " 
and  "Master  Hilary,  the  Tracer";  I  also  sent  there 
two  drawings  of  Syrian  women. 

At  private  views  and  on  Sunday  afternoons  the 
Gallery  became  a  famous  resort  of  many  people  of 
mark,  while  the  present  King  and  Queen  and  other 
distinguished  persons  gave  splendour  to  the  gatherings. 
Browning  was  constantly  there,  being  deeply  interested  in 
art,  an  interest  which,  it  was  said,  he  had  shown  several 
years  before  by  drawing  in  the  Schools  at  Rome.  After 
the  death  of  Mrs.  Browning  his  devoted  sister  became 
the  mistress  of  his  house,  and  they  made  it  the  anxiety  of 
their  life  to  watch  the  prospects  of  the  son.  For  a  time 
all  seemed  uncertain  about  "Pen's"  proclivities,  but  one 
day  when  I  called  upon  the  poet  in  Bloomfield  Terrace  he 
showed  me  a  group  of  still  life,  composed  of  a  human 
skull  and  accessories,  which  the  son  had  spontaneously 
painted.  The  assurance  that  "  Pen  "  would  take  to  painting 
was  a  great  joy  to  his  father,  and  he  consulted  me  earnestly 
as  to  the  course  to  be  followed,  but  on  a  subsequent 
occasion  he  told  me  that  he  had  been  advised  to  send  him 
to  study  in  Belgium.  After  a  few  seasons  some  examples 
of  his  son's  work  were  seen  in  the  Grosvenor  Gallery,  when 
the  poet  expressed  great  gratification  at  any  recognition  of 
their  merits.  By  this  date  Browning  was  an  honoured 
celebrity.  Some  of  his  original  champions  were  confessedly 
displeased  in  that  he  seemed  to  approve  the  fashionable 
admiration  of  London  society  rather  than  their  own, 
and  words  were  wafted  about  expressing  indifference  to 
his  later  poems.  Once  when  I  was  talking  to  the  poet 
I  chanced  to  mention  the  name  of  Rossetti  ;  he  suddenly 
flamed  up,  saying,  "  That  is  a  man  I  will  never  forgive  ; 
he  is  unpardonable."  I  replied  :  "  Certainly  I  do 
not  wish  to  pose  as  one  of  his  numerous  idolaters, 
but  he  has  this  great  merit  in  my  eyes,  that  he  was 
the  first  who  introduced  me  to  your  poetry,  and  that 


336 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 


s 


many  years  ago."  But  Browning  was  still  irate, 
declaring  that  he  had  no  patience  with  him,  and  would 
never  overlook  his  insolence.  I  did  not  inquire  further 
about  the  exact  cause  of  offence.  It  is  possible  that 
Rossetti,  originally  nearly  as  great  an  enthusiast  for  Mrs. 
Browning  as  for  the  poet  himself,  had  recently  uttered 
something  derogatory  to  her  as  well  as  to  the  poet,  and  his 


w 


MY    SON    HILARY 


verdict  that  "  Browning  and  poetry  had  parted  company 
for  ever"  could  scarcely  have  escaped  the  poet's  ear. 

While  I  was  working  on  my  "  Innocents  "  picture  in  a 
Chelsea  studio,  my  wife  chanced  to  meet  the  owner  of  the 
house  in  Cheyne  Walk  in  which  I  had  painted  "  The  Light 
of  the  World,"  and  as  she  expressed  her  wish  to  visit  the 
old  studio  of  early  days,  Mr.Tylor,  the  proprietor  (who  from 
that  day  became,  with  his  family,  valued  friends),  arranged 
the  visit.  It  was  dark  when  we  sallied  forth  towards  the 
house,  which  happened  then  to  be  unoccupied.  As  we 


xii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD 


337 


approached  the  old  building  I  looked  at  the  blank  windows 
with  singular  interest  ;  no  sign  of  light  and  life  could  be 
seen  there,  and  all  was  dark  and  silent  as  we  turned  the 
corner  to  the  side  entrance.  Ascending  the  steps,  1 
knocked  at  the  once  familiar  door.  The  sound  could  be 
heard  reverberating  through  the  vacant  passages,  but  no 
approaching  steps  came  in  response.  Thinking  that 


MY    DAUGHTER    GLADYS. 


perhaps  the  caretaker  was  asleep,  our  friend  rapped  again 
more  noisily  than  I  had  done,  but  we:  listened  in  vain  ;  the 
only  echoes  spoke  of  deserted  chambers  and  untrodden 
stairs.  As  a  prelude  to  our  half-formed  determination  to 
abandon  further  attempt,  we  made  one  final  appeal  with  a 
force  which  resounded  in  the  street,  when  suddenly  a  man 
appeared  from  the  opposite  side,  who  proved  to  be  the 
caretaker.  He  said  that  he  had  not  expected  us  so  soon, 
and  as  he  had  not  the  key  with  him  he  could  not  open 
the  door  from  outside,  however,  he  would  climb  the 

VOL.    II  Z 


338         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

garden  wall,  and  so  get  into  the  house  and  open  it  to  us. 
We  had  not  long  to  wait  before  we  heard  the  noise  of 
his  movements  in  the  room  below.  We  could  trace  him 
ascending  the  stairs,  followed  by  the  hollow  sound  of 
advancing  steps ;  the  bolts  were  gratingly  withdrawn, 
the  key  was  turned,  the  chain  disentangled  and  dropped. 
The  door  at  last  was  thrown  open,  and  the  caretaker, 
tall  and  upright,  stood  in  the  void  with  a  lantern  in 
his  left  hand.  I  think  we  all  looked  somewhat  startled 
at  the  strangeness  of  his  appearance,  for  he  seemed  to 
think  an  apology  necessary.  "  I  could  find  no  proper 
candlestick,  sir,"  he  said,  "and  as  this  old  lantern 
happened  to  be  handy,  I  thought  you  would  rather  I 
brought  it  than  that  you  should  be  kept  waiting ;  it  will 
light  you  over  the  house."  He  led  us  up  the  stairs  so 
many  of  my  friends  had  ascended  and  descended.  On 
the  landing  he  turned  aside  into  the  well -remembered 
room  of  my  early  fortunes  and  misfortunes.  Walking 
before  us,  he  finally  stood,  lantern  in  hand,  in  innocent 
ignorance  of  its  fitness,  in  the  very  place  where  my  model 
had  stood  to  receive  the  conflicting  lights  that  expressed 
the  meaning  of  my  picture.  After  leading  us  through  all 
the  vacant  rooms  and  showing  us  these  by  the  light  of  the 
lantern,  he  went  down  the  stairs  and  let  us  into  the  street, 
and  we  left,  hearing  him  bolting  and  barring  the  door  again. 
In  the  midst  of  my  torments  with  the  canvas,  typhoid 
fever  assailed  me,  resulting  from  a  visit  to  Paris,  and 
had  it  not  been  for  the  unwearied,  skilful,  and  affectionate 
attention  of  Sir  William  Gull,  I  believe  the  attack  would 
have  ended  my  days.  When  after  ten  weeks  I  was 
restored  to  convalescence,  and  was  able  to  go  to  my 
picture,  I  began  with  fresh  patience,  but  in  a  month  or 
two  I  asked  Millais  to  come  and  help  me  decide  whether 
I  should  give  up  the  subject  altogether,  as  one  which 
seemed  as  though  all  the  devils  in  hell  would  not  let  me 
bring  it  to  conclusion ;  or  take  up  some  other  of  my  many 
reserved  subjects,  or  recommence  this  same  composition 
on  a  new  canvas.  He  came  with  the  best  heart  to  advise 


xii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      339 

me.  When  he  stood  before  the  work  he  was  moved,  after 
much  pondering,  to  say  that  he  thought  it  would  be  most 
unwise  to  abandon  the  picture  with  so  little  in  it  still  to  be 
completed.  "  I  can  see,"  he  said,  "  that  at  present  the  part 


PORTRAIT    DESIGN. 


on  which  you  have  to  paint  the  principal  group  is  quite 
impracticable,  but  I  know  a  man  who  would  put  it  right 
and  make  it  tight  as  a  drum."  Despite  my  own  doubts,  I 
slowly  acquiesced,  and  at  last  agreed  to  try  his  method, 
and  sent  the  canvas  to  a  restorer  once  more.  It  came 
back  apparently  quite  sound,  and  I  began  with  new  hope, 
and  progressed  for  some  time  with  continuing  determina- 


340         PRE-RAPHAEL1TISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

tion.  At  this  time  a  member  of  the  Royal  Academy 
wrote  a  letter  to  The  Times,  in  which  he  declared  that  the 
Institution  was  absolutely  perfect  in  its  constitution  and  in 
the  exercise  of  its  powers.  The  writer  was  one  who  had  in 
1863,  ere  he  was  a  member,  signed  a  memorial  to  the  Royal 
Commissioners  praying  that  the  Body  should  be  radically 
reformed.  Since  he  and  most  of  the  other  petitioners 
had  been  elected,  no  changes,  not  even  those  required  by 
the  Royal  Commissioners,  had  been  made.  I  felt  that  the 
writer's  statement,  for  the  ultimate  good  of  art,  must  be 
controverted  ;  I  was  allowed  by  the  impartial  editor  to 
remonstrate  and  to  propose  reforms  which  might  suit  the 
Institution  to  the  altered  circumstances  of  the  age  ;  with 
such  effect  that  ultimately  I  silenced  all  the  defenders  of 
the  existing  management.  A  while  after  this  I  encountered 
Ruskin,  who  asked  me  with  great  sympathy  about  my 
present  labours.  He  came  to  see  the  picture,  and  I  was 
glad  to  show  it  to  him.  His  enthusiasm  was  great,  and 
shortly  afterwards  he  devoted  to  it  a  passage  of  consummate 
eloquence  in  an  Oxford  lecture. 

Later,  the  defective  part  of  my  canvas  proved  that  the 
wrinkled  linen  had  been  distended  by  the  restorer  over 
some  soft  composition,  which  gave  way  under  the  slight 
pressure  of  painting.  After  eight  months  more  fruitless 
work,  again  I  had  to  give  it  up.  My  long- continued 
difficulties  and  feverish  anxiety,  which  caused  still  further 
diminution  of  my  means,  had  made  a  heavy  drain  upon  my 
finances ;  true  friends,  however,  came  to  the  rescue,  and  I 
was  able  to  continue  the  battle  against  evil  fate.  This 
time  I  determined  to  recommence  the  design  on  a  new  and 
somewhat  enlarged  canvas ;  feeling  the  necessity  of  pro- 
gressing apace  with  the  second  painting,  and  fearing  that, 
while  much  remained  to  be  done,  I  might  grow  dis- 
heartened at  the  amount  of  this  repetition  work  in  favour 
of  some  fresh  subject,  I  toiled  without  intermission.  At 
first  1  made  quick  progress,  but  insomnia  ensued,  and 
was  not  long  in  bringing  other  penalties.  Walking  to  my 
studio  one  morning,  breathlessness  overtook  me  ;  I  could 


xii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     341 

not  understand  this  failure,  and  applied  to  my  dear  adviser, 
Sir  William  Gull,  who  gave  me  temporary  relief. 

I  rested  in  Switzerland  for  a  time  before  returning  to 
my  studio,  where  I  persevered,  until  in  the  following  year 
the  long-delayed  work  was  completed.  Through  the  good 
offices  of  my  kind  friend  Mr.  George  Lillie  Craik,  arrange- 
ments were  made  with  the  Fine  Arts  Society  for  the 
exhibition  of  the  picture. 

The  passage  before  referred  to,  in  one  of  Ruskin's 
lectures  on  The  Art  of  England,  which  had  been  delivered 
several  months  before,  must  here  be  introduced  to  give 
the  fullest  description  of  the  purpose  I  had  tried  to 
enshrine  in  my  painting  : — 

"For  all  human  loss  and  pain  there  is  no  comfort,  no  interpreta- 
tion worth  a  thought,  except  only  in  the  doctrine  of  the  Resurrec- 
tion ;  of  which  doctrine,  remember,  it  is  an  immutable  historical 
fact  that  all  the  beautiful  work,  and  all  the  happy  existence  of 
mankind,  hitherto,  has  depended  on,  or  consisted  in,  the  hope 
of  it. 

"  The  picture  of  which  I  came  to-day  chiefly  to  speak,  as  a 
symbol  of  that  doctrine,  was  incomplete  when  I  saw  it,  and  is  so 
still ;  but  enough  was  done  to  constitute  it  the  most  important 
work  of  Hunt's  life,  as  yet  ;  and  if  health  is  granted  to  him  for  its 
completion,  it  will,  both  in  reality  and  in  esteem,  be  the  greatest 
religious  painting  of  our  time. 

"  You  know  that  in  the  most  beautiful  former  conceptions  of 
the  Flight  into  Egypt,  the  Holy  Family  were  always  represented 
as  watched  over  and  ministered  to  by  attendant  angels.  But  only 
the  safety  and  peace  of  the  Divine  Child  and  its  mother  are 
thought  of.  No  sadness  or  wonder  of  meditation  returns  to  the 
desolate  homes  of  Bethlehem. 

"  But  in  this  English  picture  all  the  story  of  the  escape,  as  of 
the  flight,  is  told  in  fulness  of  peace  and  yet  of  compassion.  The 
travel  is  in  the  dead  of  the  night,  the  way  unseen  and  unknown  ; 
but,  partly  stooping  from  the  starlight,  and  partly  floating  on  the 
desert  mirage,  move  with  the  Holy  Family  the  glorified  souls  of 
the  Innocents.  Clear  in  celestial  light  and  gathered  into  child- 
garlands  of  gladness,  they  look  to  the  Child  in  whom  they  live, 
and  yet  for  whom  they  die.  Waters  of  the  River  of  Life  flow 
before  on  the  sands  ;  the  Christ  stretches  out  His  arms  to  the 
nearest  of  them — leaning-  from  His  mother's  breast. 


342         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

"  To  how  many  bereaved  households  may  not  this  happy  vision 
of  conquered  death  bring,  in  the  future,  days  of  peace  ! 

"  I  do  not  care  to'speak'of  other  virtues  in  this  design  than  those 
of  its  majestic  thought, — but  you  may  well  imagine  for  yourselves 
how  the  painter's  quite  separate  and,  in  its  skill,  better  than 
magical  power  of  giving  effects  of  intense  light,  has  aided  the  effort 
of  his  imagination,  while  the  passion  of  his  subject  has  developed 
in  him  a  swift  grace  of  invention  which  for  my  own  part  I  never 
recognised  in  his  design  till  now.  I  can  say  with  deliberation 
that  none  even  of  the  most  animated  groups  and  processions  of 
children  which  constitute  the  loveliest  sculpture  of  the  Robbias 
and  Donatello  can  more  than  rival  the  freedom  and  felicity  of 
motion,  or  the  subtlety  of  harmonious  line,  in  the  happy  wreath  of 
these  angel-children. 

"  Of  this  picture  I  came  to-day  chiefly  to  speak,  nor  will  I  dis- 
turb the  poor  impression  which  my  words  can  give  you  of  it  by 
any  immediate  reference  to  other  pictures  by  our  leading  masters." 

I  was  seriously  shattered  in  health  for  a  time  by  my 
long  struggle  with  evil  fate.  I  have  told  this  melancholy 
story  in  detail,  as  it  is  a  useful  contrast  to  the  general  idea 
that  the  profession  of  art  is  ever  followed  under  happy 
circumstances  and  in  light  mood.  The  task  in  its  devious 
and  uncertain  course  had  condemned  many  lighter  works, 
already  begun,  to  be  put  aside  for  ever.  My  first 
care  was  to  select  such  of  these  as  could  be  redeemed, 
and  to  finish  them,  thus  giving  myself  comforting 
distraction.  I  subsequently  called  in  my  reliner  to  confer 
upon  a  scheme  for  cutting  out  the  defective  centre  of  the 
Jerusalem  painting,  and  replacing  it  with  a  new  piece  of 
sound  canvas.  This  could  have  been  done  before,  but  I 
had  observed  that  many  pictures  so  treated  with  apparent 
thorough  success  had  in  the  course  of  twenty  years  or  so 
revealed  the  join  by  the  two  sharp  edges  of  the  canvas 
turning  upwards.  My  plan  now  was  to  make  the  inserted 
square  an  inch  or  so  larger  than  the  aperture,  to  unravel  the 
edges  of  this  and  also  of  the  surrounding  cloth,  to  weave 
them  together  and  lay  them  down  on  a  sound  backing, 
so  that  there  would  be  no  sharp  edge  anywhere.  The 
canvas  was  so  treated,  and  I  was  able  after  this  to  com- 


xii       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      343 

plete  the  central  portion  of  the  composition,  and  finish  it 
to  my  satisfaction.  The  two  pictures  have  many  differ- 
ences, both  in  colour  and  form.  It  was  an  occasion  of 
the  greatest  joy  to  me  when  both  of  them  were  com- 
pletely finished,  and  I  had  no  longer  to  fear  the  possibility 
of  further  painful  surprises.  The  first  finished  picture 
was  exhibited  in  Bond  Street,  and  reproduced  by  photo- 
gravure. In  this  print  the  forms,  even  to  their  exact  parts, 
were  delightfully  perfect,  they  could  not  have  been 
better  ;  but  the  light  and  shade  were  so  wanting  in  several 
particulars  (which,  it  turned  out,  could  not  be  corrected  on 
the  plate  itself)  that  on  each  artist's  proof  it  was  necessary 
to  remedy  the  defects  by  work  of  hand.  Unspeakable  was 
the  relief  when  at  last  I  could  turn  away  from  the  subject 
and  was  free  for  other  work.  The  next  season,  at  the 
invitation  of  the  Fine  Arts  Society,  I  gathered  together 
all  my  available  works.  The  "  Rienzi,"  l  in  consequence 
of  the  damage  occasioned  by  the  ignorant  varnishing 
of  some  previous  possessor,  could  not  be  included  in  the 
Exhibition  until  some  time  after  the  opening  day,  when  I 
had  repaired  the  defects.  Beyond  this,  unfortunately  "  The 
Light  of  the  World  "  proved  to  be  much  more  injured,  so 
that  if  I  had  not  been  alive  to  attend  to  it,  it  would  have 
been  irretrievably  lost.  It  had  been,  since  1876,  placed 
over  hot-air  pipes,  and  these  had  been  frizzling  the  paint- 
ing, so  that  parts  of  the  surface  were  drawn  up  like  little 
shells.  This  had  been  going  on  from  unavoidable  over- 
sight, and  had  been  unsuspected  owing  to  the  dark  place 
the  picture  occupied.  I  restored  the  whole  of  the  damage 
as  it  could  have  been  done  by  no  other  person,  but  the 
complete  reparation  of  minute  defects  had  to  be  deferred 
until  after  the  close  of  the  Exhibition. 

1   Now  the  property  of  Thomas  Clarke,  Esq.,  of  Liverpool. 


CHAPTER   XIII 

1887,  1888 

Evil  is  wrought  from  want  of  thought. — HOOD. 

THE -ever-increasing  number  of  visitors  to  the  Collection  of 
my  works  was  gratifying  to  me  :  at  the  close  they  exceeded 
the  number  recorded  of  any  one  artist's  exhibition. 

Sir  Thomas  Fairbairn  had  bought  "The  Two  Gentle- 
men of  Verona  "  from  Mr.  M'Cracken's  sale  at  Christie's 
in  1854  ;  later  he  became  the  possessor  of  "The  Scape- 
goat," and  both  these  works  remained  with  him  until 
1887,  when  they  were  brought  again  to  the  auction-room, 
where  I  went  to  scrutinise  how  the  colours  and  varnish 
had  stood  the  test  of  time.  On  visiting  the  saleroom  I 
saw  my  quondam  friend  Mr.  Stephens  ;  he  had  broken 
his  friendship  with  me  about  four  years  earlier.  He  was 
in  front  of  the  "  Valentine  and  Proteus,"  surrounded  by  a 
posse  of  gentlemen,  to  whom  he  was  making  communi- 
cations about  the  picture  ;  the  art  correspondent  of  the 
Pall  Mall  Gazette  was  of  the  party.  I  loitered,  inspecting 
other  pictures,  to  find  a  quiet  moment  for  my  investiga- 
tion. Stephens  was  acting  as  the  great  exponent  of 
P.R.B.  story,  and  so  continued  until  my  time  was  up, 
and  I  had  to  leave  without  gratifying  my  curiosity.  On 
1 3th  May  1887  there  appeared  in  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette 
the  following  paragraph  :— 

344 


CH.XIII  PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD  345 

Pall  Mall  Gazette 

May  13,  1887 
A  correspondent  writes  : — 

"  With  respect  to  Mr.  Holman  Hunt's  picture  of  '  The  Two 
Gentlemen  of  Verona,'  which  sold  at  Christie's  on  Saturday  for 
a  thousand  guineas,  I  would  point  out  some  curious  anachronisms 
— the  more  curious  on  account  of  the  accuracy  which  has  at  all 
times  been  the  chief  aim  and  boast  of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  School 
and  its  professors.  In  order  to  paint  the  background  with  the 
utmost  truth,  the  artist,  we  are  told,  went  down  to  Knole  Park 
for  the  landscape,  and  borrowed  a  suit  of  armour  of  the  period 
from  Mr.  Frith.  And  yet,  if  you  examine  the  swords  worn  by 
Valentine  and  Proteus,  you  will  find  that  they  are  of  Charles  the 
First  make,  and  that  the  beautiful  embroidered  material  of  Sylvia's 
dress  is  of  Louis  XIV.  design  and  manufacture.  Surely  this  is 
almost  as  bad  as  '  Sixtus  the  Fifth's  Bible '  !  " 

I  was  anxious  to  gain  avowal  who  it  was  that  had 
instigated  this  condemnation,  doubting  not  that  such  a 
confident  challenger  would  declare  himself  when  he  whom 
he  assailed  took  up  the  glove.  The  belligerent  heading 
of  my  letter  was  of  the  editor's  insertion  :— 

Pall  Mall  Gazette 

May  1 6,  1887 
MR.  HOLMAN  HUNT  READY  FOR  THE  FRAY 

SIR — If  the  writer  of  the  strictures  upon  "The  Two  Gentle- 
men of  Verona,"  who  is  so  very  tender  for  exactness  of  historic 
costume,  and  for  consistency  in  artists  to  their  professions  of  prin- 
ciple, will  show  equal  sense  of  propriety  in  publishing  his  name 
and  profession,  so  that  I  may  not  be  convicted  of  setting  lance  to 
a  windmill  or  a  windbag,  I  will  not  fail  to  defend  my  picture, 
painted  thirty-six  years  since. — I  am,  sir,  your  obedient  servant, 

W.  HOLMAN  HUNT. 

May  14. 

The  only  return  to  my  appeal  was  the  following 
comment  : — 


346         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Pall  Mall  Gazette 
May  17,  1887 

MR.  HOLMAN  HUNT  READY  FOR  THE  FRAY 

To  the  Editor  of  the  Pall  Mall  Gazette. 

SIR — Mr.  Holman  Hunt  is  good  enough  to  promise  that  if  I 
will  publish  my  name  and  profession,  he  will  "  defend  his  picture." 
My  anonymity  or  otherwise  is  surely  a  matter  of  unimportance, 
save  that  in  its  being  preserved  the  advantage  is  gained  of  exclud- 
ing all  personality  from  the  controversy.  Whether  or  not  I  am, 
as  Mr.  Hunt  expresses  it,  "a  windmill  or  a  windbag,"  is  little  to 
the  point.  The  real  question  at  issue  is  this  :  Is  my  statement 
that  Mr.  Hunt's  beautiful  picture,  "The  Two  Gentlemen  of 
Verona,"  contains  two  glaring  anachronisms  true  or  false  ?  I 
assert  that  two  Charles  the  First  swords  and  some  Louis  Qua- 
torze  material  have  been  introduced  into  the  scene  which  occurred 
long  previous.  Is  that  so  or  not  ?  Seeing  that  Mr.  Hunt  has 
drawn  his  own  attention  to  my  point,  the  public  will  certainly 
look  forward  to  his  explanation — which  is  sure  to  be  instructive 
or  entertaining — of  the  wherefore  of  these  curious  errors.  On 
the  other  hand,  his  injudicious  imposing  of  conditions  is  likely  to 
be  misunderstood. — I  am,  sir,  most  obediently, 

YOUR  "CORRESPONDENT." 

This  evasion  of  my  request  made  reply  at  first  seem 
needless,  but  on  jrd  June  appeared  the  following  :— 

Pall  Mall  Gazette 
June  3,  1887 

LITERARY  AND  ART  NOTES 

Mr.  Holman  Hunt's  "  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,"  which 
fetched  1000  guineas  at  Christie's  sale  a  couple  of  weeks  ago,  has 
been  secured  by  the  Birmingham  Museum  and  Art  Gallery. 
Concerning  this  painting,  our  former  correspondent  writes  as 
follows  : — 

"  As  Mr.  Hunt's  silence  can  only  be  construed  into  a  decision 
not  to  'defend  his  picture'  because  I  decline  to  offer  him  my 
person  for  direct  attack,  I  may  be  permitted  to  lay  before  your 
readers  the  explanation  he  himself  shrinks  from  giving.  It  has 


xni      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      347 

recently  been  my  good  fortune  to  meet  a  gentleman  who  knew 
Mr.  Holman  Hunt  well  at  the  time  the  picture  was  being  painted, 
in  1850  or  thereabouts,  and  he  tells  me  that  he  distinctly  remem- 
bers Mr.  Hunt  referring  to  the  Charles  the  First  swords  which  he 
had  borrowed  as  objects  of  such  great  beauty  that  he  (Mr.  Hunt) 
determined  to  introduce  them  into  his  picture,  well  knowing  at 
the  time  that  they  belonged  to  a  much  later  period.  This  is  per- 
fectly intelligible,  but  will  it  not  shake  the  public  confidence  in 
Mr.  Hunt's  pictorial  bona  fides  ?  " 

Since  the  traducer  of  my  good  faith  again  refused  to 
avow  himself  and  yet  repeated  his  charge,  I  wrote  the 
following  justification  of  myself  :— 


June  17,  1887 
MR.   HOLMAN  HUNT  ON  SWORDS  AND  THEIR  FASHIONS 

Mr.  Holman  Hunt  writes  to  us  as  follows  with  regard  to  the 
charge  of  archaeological  inaccuracy  which  a  correspondent 
recently  brought  through  our  columns  against  the  well-known 
picture  of  "The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona  "  :  — 

"  It  appears  now  by  your  correspondent's  letter  published  a  few 
days  ago  that  he  has  recently  had  the  good  fortue  to  meet  a 
gentleman  whom  I  knew  in  1850,  and  that  this  gentleman  was 
told  by  me  that  the  swords  I  had  obtained  were,  I  knew,  of  Charles 
I.'s  period  ;  but  that,  nevertheless,  on  account  of  their  beauty,  I 
determined  to  paint  them  in  my  picture,  and  that  thus  the  public 
will  no  longer  '  have  confidence  in  my  bona  fides?  Such 
language  is  surely  neither  just  nor  courteous  ;  but  it  ought  not  to 
astonish  me  from  an  accuser  who  condemns  a  picture  of  human 
passion  and  expression  on  so  trifling  a  ground,  and  who  refuses 
to  come  out  into  open  daylight  to  make  his  charge.  I  do  not 
pretend  to  remember  any  conversation  of  the  kind  he  reports  as 
having  taken  place  thirty-seven  years  ago.  Had  he  given  me  the 
name  of  his  informant  I  might  perhaps  have  explained  how  the 
mistake  arose.  All  I  can  do  now — with  every  desire  to  avoid 
personalities — is  to  say  generally  that  among  the  few  frequenters 
of  my  studio  were  some  who  came  during  priceless  daylight,  not 
always  to  the  economy  of  mv  time,  or  of  my  other  means  of 
achieving  the  work  to  be  done,  and  to  such,  perhaps,  I  did  not 
take  sufficient  pains  to  explain  my  purpose.  In  any  case  I  can 
assert  it  was  not  what  he  opines,  and  since  the  accusation  is  said 


348         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

to  come  from  my  own  lips,  and  the  understanding  is  wrong, 
the  charge  falls  to  the  ground,  and  it  seems  a  sin  to  take  up  your 
valuable  space  and  my  own  precious  time  in  further  discussion  of 
the  antiquarian  merits  of  the  swords.  Still,  correspondents  who 
are  determined  to  encourage  a  prejudice  are  persevering,  and  so  it 
will  be  well  to  enable  impartial  readers  to  judge  for  themselves 
the  question  of  my  accuracy. 

"Monuments  are  the  authorities  for  chivalric  costume,  and 
these  generally  represent  men  of  quality  in  military  panoply  and 
with  swords  fit  for  warfare  even  after  civil  swords  had  bes;un  to 

O 

be  shaped  differently,  and  to  be  worn  on  ordinary  occasions. 
Evidence  from  effigies  in  the  latter  part  of  the  fifteenth  and  the 
beginning  of  the  following  century  must  therefore  be  taken  with 
circumspection.  Civil  swords  came  finally  to  be  called  rapiers. 
The  military  sword  had  the  handle  divided  from  the  blade  by  a 
strong  bar  forming  a  cross,  so  complete  that  in  crusading  times  it 
was  used  as  a  sacred  symbol.  The  first  modification  of  this  form 
was  in  the  turning  of  the  ends  of  the  bar  forward  to  the  blade. 
The  next  was  in  making  one  end  turned  back  towards  the  hand, 
so  that  the  bar  formed  an  S  ;  this  was  followed  by  the  spreading 
out  of  the  hilt  horizontally  at  the  juncture  with  the  blade  in  a 
thin  plate,  and  by  the  further  division  of  the  bar  into  two  or  three 
light  branches,  one  turning  up  over  the  hand  to  form  a  protection 
to  it,  which  the  warrior  with  gauntlets  did  not  need.  The 
primitiveness  of  this  change  into  the  rapier  form  is  marked  by  the 
branches  being  strictly  in  the  plane  formed  by  the  blade  of  the 
sword.  They  did  not  for  a  time  reach  the  pommel  or  turn  to  the 
right  or  left  to  form  a  basket  handle.  The  spreading  out  of  the 
hilt  horizontally  sometimes  became  the  dominant  feature,  growing 
rose-shaped,  into  a  ring  or  into  a  basin  with  the  hollow  towards 
the  hand,  and  also  with  the  cross  bar  still  represented  by  a  then 
knobbed  rod,  or  a  hoop  further  up  the  handle  was  contempor- 
aneously developed  by  other  makers.  It  is  said  properly  that  my 
two  swords  are  of  the  same  period  ;  it  is  necessary,  therefore,  only 
to  defend  one. 

"  It  shall  be  that  carried  by  Valentine.  I  have  now  before  me 
a  page  of  a  book  published  in  Paris  somewhere  about  1850, 
entitled  Le  Moyen  Age  et  la  Renaissance  Armurerle.  It  has 
two  hilts  of  swords  in  a  state  of  evolution  into  rapiers  :  extraneous 
decoration  proves  them  both  to  be  late  examples  of  their  type. 
No.  I  is  in  its  radical  form  the  same  as  that  at  Valentine's  side. 
It  is  from  the  collection  of  Prince  SoltikofF;  the  date  given  is 
'XVI.  Siecle.'  A  little  later,  as  indicated  above,  the  branches 
turned  out  of  the  plane  of  the  sword  blade  into  the  basket  form. 


xin      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      349 

In  the  picture  at  Hampton  Court  representing  the  visit  of  Henry 
VIII.  to  Francis  I.  at  Calais,  painted  at  the  time,  are  several  figures 
(some  servants,  who  would  not  have  the  newest  fashions)  with 
rapiers  of  such  pattern  carried  ;  these  assign  Valentine's  rapier  to 
a  date  earlier  than  1520,  which  it  may  be  assumed  is  more  than 
early  enough.  But  the  gentleman  whom  my  assailant  has  had 
recentlv  the  good  fortune  to  meet,  and  whom  I  had  the  privilege 
to  know  in  1850,  might,  when  so  intent  upon  exposing  me  to  the 
public,  have  made  a  much  stronger  case  out  of  my  confidences, 
for  I  was  much  further  away  from  the  period  illustrated  with  some 
of  the  properties  which  served  me  as  models  than  with  a  sword  of 
the  time  of  Charles  I.  The  dress  of  Julia,  to  wit,  I  made  out 
of  materials  bought  at  a  modern  mercer's,  and  I  embroidered  the 
sleeve  in  gold  thread  with  my  own  hand.  The  hat  also  I  made 
myself,  and  the  dress  of  Proteus  was  painted  from  my  own  tailor- 
ing. What  the  sword  was  itself  I  do  not  remember.  It  was 
enough  for  me  to  recognise  that  I  could  paint  what  I  had  in  my 
mind  from  it  more  perfectly  than  from  anything  else  at  hand,  and 
that  if  more  fastidious  for  models  my  design  might  never  come  to 
be  ready  for  any  better  purpose  than  the  paving  of  a  certain  region 
where  many  admirable  ideas  will  be  found,  and  where  will  be  seen 
what  my  fellow-students  might  have  done,  had  they  not  left  their 
own  easels  and  favoured  others  so  much  with  their  company  and 
supervision." 

To  this  no  reply  followed. 

It  may  be  said  without  fear  of  contradiction,  that  in 
the  combat  for  our  objects,  as  far  as  it  proved  victorious, 
we  obtained  not  alone  freedom  for  our  own  particular 
principles,  but  also  toleration  for  the  manner  of  artists 
who  were  independently  endeavouring  to  substitute  a 
larger  and  nobler  style  of  art  for  that  of  the  stagey  con- 
ventionality and  dogmatic  view  of  Nature  which  in  our 
youth  the  men  in  power  were  determined  to  protect  to 
the  exclusion  of  all  others.  Had  we  not  forced  the  hands 
of  the  established  authorities,  it  is  probable  that  even 
Leighton  would  not  have  passed  through  the  wicket  of 
favour  and  have  traversed  the  paths  of  acceptance  with 
only  that  opposition  at  the  beginning  which  he  was  able 
to  stem.  Had  he  then  been  lost  sight  of,  the  Academy 
ultimately  would  have  been  the  sufferer  not  less  than 


350         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

himself.  It  will  have  been  seen,  that  before  our  sturdy 
self-sacrifice  G.  F.  Watts  was  by  no  means  persona  grata 
in  the  eyes  of  the  Academy.  The  effect  of  the  reaction 
against  our  oppressors  caused  a  scandal,  not  without  peril 
to  the  stability  of  the  Academy.  This  provoked  the 
establishment  of  a  Royal  Commission,  and  as  a  settlement 
of  the  commotion,  some  of  the  wiser  Academicians  de- 
termined to  keep  in  check  the  more  illiberal  and  short- 
sighted members  of  their  body,  and  to  invite  the  men, 
hitherto  unfairly  opposed,  to  enter  among  them.  They 
approached  Watts  as  one  of  the  most  important  of  these, 
and  persuaded  him  to  put  aside  his  reserve  and  join  the 
Body  as  an  associate,  with  the  pledge  that  he  should  be 
made  a  full  member  on  the  first  vacancy.  Our  fight  had 
not  been  for  those  alone  who  were  our  followers. 

Lawless,  a  man  of  exceptionally  poetic  gifts,  was 
working  side  by  side  with  other  disciples  of  our  school  ; 
he  died  young,  and,  as  far  as  I  know,  distinguished  himself 
only  in  book  illustration.  Millais,  since  the  publishing  of 
the  Tennyson  volume,  had  been  making  a  series  of  wonder- 
ful designs  for  books,  latterly  to  Trollope's  stories,  for 
which  his  residence  in  a  country  house  filled  with  a  large 
family  of  beautiful  young  people  gave  him  facilities,  and 
the  new  book  illustrators  at  once  followed  Millais  as  their 
prototype.  The  very  remarkable  genius  of  F.  Walker, 
whose  singularly  brilliant  career  was  so  early  closed, 
gradually  spurred  him  to  find  fields  of  enterprise  for 
themes  such  as  neither  of  us  had  yet  worked  :  he 
possibly  would  have  denied  that  he  was  a  Pre-Raphaelite, 
but  this  would  only  have  been  on  the  understanding  that 
the  term  was  meant  to  cover  "  Revivalism."  If  the  matter 
had  been  argued  with  him,  there  can  be  little  doubt  that 
he  would  have  agreed  that  no  modern  work  of  earlier  date 
than  1849  represented  truth  of  daylight  and  beauty  in 
accessorial  detail,  which  he  cultivated  so  patiently  and 
poetically.  His  book  illustrations  first  marked  his  obedi- 
ence to  Millais'  example.  When  he  appeared  as  a  colourist, 
the  same  influence  in  colour  and  treatment  had  been  seen ; 


xni      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     351 

this  may  be  said  whether  of  his  slightly  executed  or  highly 
finished  pictures  to  the  last,  without  any  disparagement 
of  his  originality.  To  illustrate  again  how  this  influence 
extended  among  our  successors,  I  would  note  Philip 
Calderon's  "After  the  Battle"  in  1862,  an  interesting 
picture  representing  a  supposed  incident  in  the  Marl- 
borough  campaign.  In  the  garden  of  a  cluster  of  cottages, 
a  little  boy,  abandoned  by  his  parents,  is  found  by  a  party 
of  English  grenadiers  who  have  stormed  the  place.  The 
boy  looks  dazed,  as  if  recently  awakened  out  of  sleep,  while 
the  soldiers  are  exhibiting  a  good-natured  interest  in  him. 
The  picture  was  painted  throughout  with  unsparing  care 
and  finish,  and  no  one  could  look  at  it,  who  had  known 
Millais'  "  L'Enfant  du  Regiment,"  without  feeling  that  had 
not  this  picture  been  painted,  the  later  production  would 
hardly  have  been  conceived.  That  our  elders  also  enriched 
their  figure  pictures  with  greater  study  of  nature  has  been 
shown  in  the  case  of  Maclise  with  the  background  of 
"  King  Alfred  in  the  Danish  Camp,"  and  of  many  others 
who  refined  their  earlier  manner,  enriching  it  with  new 
reflections  of  nature  ;  these  were  enough  to  justify  the 
claim  that  a  fresh  vitality  had  grown  out  of  our  example. 
Walter  Crane  belonged  to  a  later  brood  of  artists ;  he  was 
too  young  to  have  personal  knowledge  of  the  startling 
individuality  which  our  works  presented  in  exhibitions  of 
the  middle  of  the  last  century,  when  the  daylight  effects 
and  the  composition  conspicuous  in  our  canvases  made 
them  seem,  like  "apertures  in  the  wall  of  exhibitions," 
otherwise  of  stale  and  sombre  hue.1  In  Walter  Crane's 
youth  the  brown-hued  pictures  had  nearly  disappeared,  and 
since  in  the  seventies  the  character  of  our  work  was  not 
so  markedly  different  from  the  surrounding  pictures,  the 
younger  artists  may  not  at  once  have  recognised  the 
influence  of  our  school  in  the  manner  that  they  were 
developing;  it  is  a  matter  of  pride,  which  few  independent 
judges  will  regard  as  unjustified,  that  their  early  steps 
were  made  easier  by  our  pioneering.  In  times  past  artists' 

1  See  letter  in  Hueffer's  Life  of  MaJox  Brown,  chap.  v.  p.  77. 


352         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

studios  were  the  schools  of  advancing  taste,  and  no  com- 
petitor in  the  profession  appeared  who  had  not  been 
heralded  by  an  accredited  apprenticeship.  Patrons  them- 
selves were  instructed  by  the  master  artists,  so  that  genius 
was  sure  to  be  accepted.  How  different  are  the  methods 
of  to-day  !  Princes  no  longer  live  in  gorgeous  palaces 
devised  for  artistic  embellishment.  Expert  clamour, 
influencing  as  it  does  Government  judgment  in  art,  frus- 
trates the  guidance  of  common  sense.  It  certainly  was  not 
altogether  fortunate  in  its  decision  as  to  the  decorations  of 
the  Houses  of  Parliament.  The  process  of  fresco  painting 
was  relinquished  because  after  a  few  years  it  was  dis- 
covered that  some  of  the  pictures  so  painted  scaled  off ; 
this  was  owing  to  the  unsuspected  presence  of  saline 
matter  in  the  sand  supplied  for  the  intonico.  The  damp- 
ness of  our  climate  was  not  wholly  at  fault,  or  it  would 
have  destroyed  other  frescoes  executed  at  the  same  time. 
Silica  or  water-glass  painting  was  substituted  for  Maclise's 
"  Waterloo."  The  slow  progress  of  the  artists,  largely 
due  to  the  necessary  suspension  of  work  in  winter,  was 
adduced  by  Government  as  a  reason  for  discontinuing  the 
attempt,  together  with  the  claim  of  one  painter,  who 
appealed  for  double  the  amount  originally  agreed  upon  for 
his  work.  Whatever  the  reason  for  bringing  the  experi- 
ment to  a  close,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  affirm  that  "  The 
Baptism  of  St.  Ethelbert,"  by  Dyce  ;  the  two  water-glass 
paintings  of  "  The  Battle  of  Waterloo  "  ;  "  The  Battle  of 
Trafalgar,"  by  Maclise  ;  and  the  paintings  in  the  corridor 
illustrating  events  of  the  Commonwealth  time,  by  Cope,  are 
of  a  kind  which,  if  executed  in  Italy  centuries  ago,  would 
cause  many  amateur  art  pilgrims  to  wend  their  way  thither. 
Even  had  the  work  gone  on,  it  is  pretty  certain  that  the 
tone  in  which  we  were  assailed  by  the  press  would  have 
been  a  complete  bar  to  the  employment  upon  the  mural 
work  of  either  Millais,  Rossetti,  myself,  our  unaccredited 
convert  Madox  Brown,  or  any  who  were  regarded  as 
fighting  under  our  standard. 

I   sent   to   Liverpool   the   first-commenced   and    last- 


xiii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      353 

finished  picture  of  "  The  Triumph  of  Innocents."  The 
price  was  3500  guineas.  The  Liverpool  Art  Gallery  passed 
a  resolution  to  pay  £1000,  and  Mr.  Harold  Rathbone 
procured  the  remainder  by  private  subscriptions.  At  this 
time  I  undertook  a  design  for  Archdeacon  Wilson,  the 
head  master  of  Clifton  College,  the  subject  being  the  "  Boy 
Christ  with  the  Doctors."  The  design  was  adapted  for 
the  chapel  in  mosaic  by  Messrs.  Powell,  and  subsequently 
was  finished  as  a  water-colour  drawing.  I  took  the  more 
interest  in  the  subject  as  my  reading  and  observations  in 
connection  with  the  story  of  "  The  Finding  in  the  Temple  " 
had  supplied  me  with  materials  which,  in  my  first  picture, 
it  was  not  permissible  to  use.1 

Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  had  died  on  9th  April  1881. 
I  had  not  see  him  since  the  private  view  of  "  The  Shadow 
of  Death,"  when  I  had  observed  him  in  the  room  with  his 
brother.  My  intention  was  to  accost  him,  but  before  I 
could  disengage  myself  to  do  this,  he  had  left  the  room. 
He  had  kept  out  of  the  way  of  both  Millais  and  myself 
since  1857.  When  latterly  news  had  been  brought  to 
me  of  his  serious  indisposition,  I  wrote  to  his  brother  to 
ask  whether  he  thought  it  would  be  pleasant  to  Gabriel  if 
I  went  to  visit  him.  The  reply  was  thoughtful  in  tone  ; 
he  decided  that  Gabriel's  health  was  so  uncertain  at 
the  time  as  to  make  the  visit  undesirable.  Thus  I  did 
not  see  him  at  the  lust.  I  ..was  anxious  not  to  appear 
in  any  degree  grudging  of  the  reputation  which  my  former 
friend  had  won,  and  when  an  invitation  came  to  me  to 
write  some  notes  about  the  origin  of  our  Brotherhood,  I 
determined  that  no  generosity  towards  his  memory  should 
be  wanting.  In  the  year  1886  my  papers  on  Pre- 
Raphaelitism  were  published  in  the  Contemporary  Review. 
In  the  following  year  I  was  appealed  to  by  his  nearest 
friends,  and  as  the  most  appropriate  member  of  the  circle,  to 
give  an  address  at  the  unveiling  of  the  fountain,  designed 
by  John  Seddon,  and  ornamented  with  an  alto-relievo  bust 
executed  by  Madox  Brown,  erected  on  the  embankment 

1  The  property  of  Mr.  J.  T.  Middlemore,  M.P. 
VOL.    II  2    A 


354         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

at  Chelsea.  Accepting  the  duty,  I  determined,  there- 
fore, to  give  the  fullest  measure  of  admiration  possible. 
May  it  not  have  been  that,  in  scribbling  some  of  the 
sentences  of  my  address  in  the  cab,  as  I  drove  to  the  place 
of  meeting,  I  was  too  careless  of  the  construction  that 
might  be  put  upon  my  words?  The  manner  in  which  all 
my  ungrudging  praises  of  Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  have 
been  treated  by  varying  commentators  compels  me  to 
refer  to  my  past  utterances  on  this  subject,  and  to  the 
date  of  their  delivery.  The  text  here  given  is  that  of  the 
Pall  Mall  Budget  of  the  2ist  July  1887,  the  week  after 
the  ceremony  of  the  unveiling  of  the  fountain  :— 

Ladies  and  Gentlemen — It  is  fair  to  assume  that  all  whom 
I  address  have  an  interest,  great  or  small,  in  Rossetti's  genius. 
Certain  may  be  offended  that  it  expressed  itself  as  it  did.  They 
may  feel  assured  that  what  is  called  by  great  authorities  "  that 
fatal  gift  of  originality  "  had  too  much  to  do  with  it.  They  may 
fasten  upon  some  particular  phase  of  his  nature,  which  at  a  special 
time  he  exhibited,  and  decide  from  that  that  he  was  altogether 
perverse  and  mistaken,  and  they  may  stop  far  short  of  admiration, 
while  they  admit  he  was  a  genius  about  whom  it  is  impossible 
not  to  feel  curiosity.  Others  will  go  far  beyond  this  degree  of 
admiration,  and  they  would  be  offended  at  anything  short  of  the 
greatest  praise.  I  don't  think  that  any  of  the  Committee  have 
intention  of  deciding  the  point  of  his  exact  place  among  the  great. 
We  know  that  his  work  in  art  and  poetry  will  live  for  exactly 
what  it  is  worth,  without  flattery  and  despite  abuse,  in  future 
generations  in  a  manner  more  sure  than  it  has  so  far  done.  I 
will  not  take  up  your  time  with  apologies  at  my  shortcomings 
for  the  office  of  speaker.  I  conclude  that  I  have  been  chosen  to 
this  honour  because  I  was  his  early  companion  day  after  day,  at 
that  period  in  life  when  he  was  just  feeling  strong  enough  to  take 
independent  flight.  He  was  open  with  me,  as  boys  will  be  when 
they  know  that  their  comrade  is  as  much  in  earnest  as  themselves. 
We  talked  much  about  poetry,  but  what  he  said  about  reducing 
it  to  words  I  will  not  pretend  to  remember  so  well,  for  life  was 
too  much  of  a  storm  at  the  time  to  have  prepared  me  to  justify 
an  independent  opinion,  or  to  allow  me  to  put  to  immediate  test 
the  views  he  approved  or  opposed.  I  will  leave  others  to  treat  of 
his  poetic  theories  and  practice.  What  he  said  and  did  in  relation 
to  the  sister  art,  with  what  others  may  report  on  his  poetry,  will 


xiii      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      355 

give  explanation  of  our  acting  in  concert  to-day.  I  will  begin 
with  a  story  which  he  told  me  at  the  opening  of  our  friendship, 
which  it  is  well  to  give  at  this  gathering,  where  any  misunder- 
standing of  facts  may  be  corrected  more  speedily  than  it  could  be 
on  any  other  occasion.  When  Rossetti  was  about  eighteen  or 
nineteen  he  had  passed  in  part  through  the  Academy  schools,  and 
had  the  sense  to  see  that  he  was  in  need  of  a  painting  master. 
He  had  seen  Madox  Brown's  works  in  Westminster  Hall,  and  he 
had  a  profound  and  enthusiastic  admiration  for  them  ;  none  the 
less  because  the  press  of  the  day,  which  idolised  Henry  Howard 
and  Frost — I  will  not  mention  other  great  lights — for  their  grace- 
ful composition,  full  of  so-called  sweet  classicalities  and  beauty, 
had  denounced  Brown's  contributions  as  altogether  wanting  in 
true  taste.  Gabriel,  as  he  was  then  called,  wrote  a  letter  to  this 
master  in  terms  of  the  highest  appreciation,  the  better  to  carry 
conviction  with  it  that  the  writer  was  influenced  in  no  degree  by 
the  vulgar  judgment  of  the  day.  Without  experience  of  the  full 
complexities  of  social  wickedness,  perhaps  he  overdid  the  profes- 
sions of  admiration.  A  few  days  later,  Rossetti  was  in  his  second- 
floor  room,  which  served  as  library  and  studio  combined,  when 
the  servant  came  in  saying  that  Mr.  Brown  was  waiting  below 
to  see  him.  In  the  single  name  Gabriel  could  not  identify  the 
visitor,  but  he  at  once  descended,  when  he  met  a  gentleman  of 
very  reserved  aspect,  with  a  noticeably  thick  walking-stick  in 
hand,  who  produced  Rossetti's  letter,  saying,  "This  letter  came 
to  me  yesterday,  and  1  wish  to  see  Mr.  Gabriel  Charles  Dante 
Rossetti."  Rossetti's  outburst  of  gratitude  for  the  visit,  and  the 
gentle  manners  of  the  young  man,  soon  removed  all  suspicion  of 
hidden  purpose  in  the  mind  of  the  visitor,  who  later  admitted 
that  he  had  had  some  thought  that  the  effusiveness  of  apprecia- 
tion in  the  epistle,  from  an  unknown  writer,  was  not  altogether 
necessarily  to  be  taken  on  trust,  and  that  the  walking-stick  had 
been  made  a  companion  in  the  visit  with  the  idea  that  it  might 
be  useful  in  convincing  the  writer — if  intending  to  be  personally 
insulting  —that  he  had  caught  a  Tartar.  I  am  happy  to  be  able  to 
say  of  this  visit  that  it  ended  in  Madox  Brown  taking  Rossetti 
as  his  pupil,  and  that  the  master  altogether  refused  to  listen  to 
Rossetti's  inquiry  about  the  terms  he  should  pay.  No  one  could, 
you  will  agree,  more  appropriately  take  upon  himself  the  work  of 
designing  Rossetti's  figure  in  the  monument  now  unveiled  than 
the  master  whose  friendship  with  his  pupil  began  so  sturdily. 
Mr.  Seddon,  who  chose  Rossetti  to  do  the  altar-piece  at  Llandaff 
Cathedral,  executed  with  not  less  devotion  the  architectural  part 
of  the  memorial.  Friends,  this  is  not  a  funeral  monument. 


356         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

There  is  no  un fitness  in  thinking  of  the  incidents  of  moment  in 
our  past  companion's  life  which  had  a  laugh  connected  with  them. 
It  astonished  me  when  I  was  young  to  find  that  very  serious  men 
love  fun  most  heartily.  They  weep  when  it  is  the  time  to  weep, 
it  is  true  ;  but  they  see  the  fun  and  absurdity  of  life.  No  one 
did  this  more  than  Rossetti.  I  feel  called  upon  to  bring  out 
this  phase  of  his  character,  because  the  work  he  left  was  uniformly 
sad.  My  memory  of  him  is  of  the  heyday  of  his  life,  and  many 
of  our  hours  then  were  spent  about  this  very  spot.  In  1849  we 
came  here  to  find  a  house  which  we  could  share  together.  There 
were  two  or  three  or  more  to  let  in  Cheyne  Walk.  We  pre- 
ferred one  just  vacated  by  Mr.  Dyce,  but  the  rent  was  £60  per 
annum,  on  a  lease  too  ;  and  with  taxes  the  responsibility  was  too 
great  for  me  at  least.  As  young  painters  we  had  no  prospects 
but  of  the  meanest  incomes,  and  so  we  found  separate  lodgings, 
he  in  Newman  Street,  and  later  one  at  the  foot  of  Blackfriars 
Bridge,  and  I  took  apartments  in  Cheyne  Walk,  where  often  he 
was  a  visitor,  sometimes  sitting  down  hour  after  hour  to  design 
or  to  write.  Occasionally  we  went  out  on  nocturnal  expeditions 
on  the  river,  not  often,  for  he  could  not  swim.  He  never  became 
an  oarsman  or  a  sculler  ;  but  I  remember  his  first  ambitious 
effort  as  a  boatman,  to  the  accompaniment  of  shouts  of  laughter  ; 
but  generally  we  were  quieter.  The  star-checked  gloom,  the 
long  deep-draggled  lamps,  making  the  water  into  a  bottomless 
pit,  the  black  piles  of  the  timber  bridges,  the  tides  empty  of  all 
but  floating  barges,  slowly  guided  with  deep- falling,  splashing 
sweeps,  the  challenged  echoes,  the  ghostly  houses  on  the  bank, 
with  windows  glaring  as  the  dawn  stared  into  them  as  into  the 
wide-opened  eyes  of  a  corpse  ;  and  last  the  jocund  day  uprose, 
cloud  garlanded — these  things  were  worth  the  seeing,  the  hear- 
ing, and  the  learning,  for  they  had  a  voice  for  each.  They  should 
not  be  forgotten  till  the  last  slumber  (slumber  which  has  fallen 
upon  him  in  untimely  season),  and  yet,  as  I  believe,  behind  my 
time  as  I  am,  even  this  sleep  will  not  chase  away  such  memories. 
Just  as  there  are  many  ways  of  becoming  great,  so  there  are 
many  ways  of  being  an  artist.  Rossetti  did  not  make  himself 
one,  did  not  have  it  thrust  upon  him  ;  he  was  born  one.  Do 
not  let  me  be  misunderstood.  It  was  not  that  he  did  not  work  ; 
he  was  not  systematic  in  his  earliest  Academy  training,  but  he  was 
untiring  in  his  application,  and  in  his  wrestling  with  the  diffi- 
culties of  a  design.  "  How  often,"  he  said  to  me  once  at  mv 
lodgings,  "one  has  after  great  reluctance  to  give  up  the  very  dear 
feature  in  a  conception  for  which  it  was  first  undertaken  !  "  He- 
had  the  genius  for  taking  pains,  there  can  be  no  doubt,  but  I 


xni      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     357 

will  return  to  my  declaration  that  he  was  born  an  artist.  Deep 
down  in  the  recesses  of  his  being  he  had  a  rich  store  of  human 
and  spiritual  interest,  and  these  were  always  speaking  to  him,  and 
he  listened  as  one  does  to  ever-advancing  music  ;  and  he  saw 
delectable  images,  and  he  taught  his  tongue  to  interpret  these, 
and  he  trained  a  cunning  hand  to  give  them  form  for  other  eyes. 
He  was  a  true  seer.  We  leave  the  generations  to  settle  what  his 
application  of  this  power  was  in  value,  but  we  pin  our  credit  to 
the  assertion  that  he  was  really  a  true  seer.  He  did  not  take 
other  men's  utterances  and  dress  them  up  into  new  and  fashion- 
able forms,  but  he  drew  them  from  a  fount  of  his  own.  He  had 
to  suffer  for  this  offence  at  once.  He  will  have  still  to  give  an 
account  of  his  stewardship  to  posterity,  if  nowhere  else,  as  we  all 
shall — the  more  certainly  perhaps  because  he  had  the  charge  of  so 
many  talents.  He  never  doubted  of  his  call  to  exceptional  effort 
in  life.  I  will  not  scruple  to  illustrate  this  by  a  reminiscence  of 
his  youth  told  by  himself.  When  he  was  at  that  period  in  life 
at  which  parents  have  the  most  justifiable  anxiety  to  discourage 
habits  of  shifting  from  one  aim  to  another,  his  friends  had  the 
greatest  desire  to  see  him  engaged  at  an  occupation  that  would 
have  a  promising  future  in  it.  An  influential  friend  secured  for 
him  an  appointment  in  a  telegraph  office,  when  telegraphy  was 
in  its  first  development.  Gabriel,  as  he  was  called  then,  went  to 
Nine  Elms  to  see  the  principal  in  the  office.  He  was  received 
very  cordially  and  was  assured  that  all  would  be  made  very  com- 
fortable for  him.  Without  needless  waste  of  time,  the  newcomer 
asked  to  be  shown  the  work  that  would  be  expected  of  him. 
He  was  assured  it  would  be  the  simplest  in  the  world,  and  this 
was  demonstrated  by  sight  of  the  instrument  at  work.  "There 
were  two  dials  like  clock  faces,"  he  said,  "and  to  each  there  was 
an  index.  The  operator  took  hold  of  a  handle.  I  laughed  to 
hear  the  thing  going  'clock,  click,  click,'  and  to  see  the  needle 
moving  about  in  fits.  'There,  you  see,'  said  the  gentleman, 
'  that's  all.'  '  Nothing  else  r  '  commented  Gabriel.  '  I  am 
extremely  obliged  to  you,'  added  Rossetti  ;  '  it  is  really  amusing. 
I  won't  tax  your  kindness  more.  Good  day.'  '  But  it  would 
be  better  for  you  to  stay  now.  When  will  you  return  ?  ' 
'Well,'  said  Gabriel,  'it  would  be  absolutely  useless  for  me  to 
undertake  the  work.  I  could  not  do  it,'"  and,  in  fact,  the 
decision  was  a  wise  one  for  both  sides.  With  the  revolutionary 
vear  at  hand  it  is  frightful  to  speculate  on  the  consequences  that 
might  have  ensued  to  the  drones  in  the  world  had  he  once  taken 
the  management  of  the  wires  in  hand,  for  with  other  blood  he 
certainly  inherited  some  Radical  inclinations  from  his  father. 


358          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

We  will  not  presume  in  concert  to  lay  down  the  law  about  his 
merits,  but  I  think  there  is  no  reason  why  I  should  not  state  my 
own  view  about  one  of  his  paintings  which  I  saw  at  the  National 
Gallery  a  few  weeks  since.  It  was  a  copying  day.  I  had  gone 
in  mainly  to  see  the  new  "Raphael,"  and  I  had  seen  it,  and  had 
enjoyed  the  contemplation  of  many  more  of  our  precious  posses- 
sions, those,  naturally,  which  were  new  most  arresting  my  atten- 
tion. In  turning  about  to  see  that  I  was  in  nobody's  way,  the 
picture  of  "  The  Annunciation,"  by  Rossetti,  seemed  to  speak  to 
me  long-forgotten  words.  I  approached  :  it  was  being  copied 
by  two  ladies,  and  I  felt  at  once  that  they  had  made  a  wise  selec- 
tion. The  living  merit  of  the  work  made  it  stand  out  as  among 
the  most  genuine  creations  in  the  Gallery,  and  1  distinctly  con- 
cluded that  there  was  no  painting  there  done  by  hands  so  young 
as  Rossetti's  were  when  he  did  that,  which  could  be  compared 
to  it.  He  was  twenty-one  at  the  time.  Raphael  was  twenty- 
four  when  he  painted  the  "  Ansidei  Madonna."  Raphael's  picture, 
although  of  course  more  complex,  and  having  special  value  as 
containing  evidence  of  the  steps  by  which  he  reached  his  final 
excellence,  is  not  to  be  compared  to  it  for  the  difficulty  of  the 
attempt  or  for  the  artistic  discrimination  of  form,  and  there  is  no 
hint  of  the  power  of  expression  which  Rossetti's  work  gives. 
Raphael,  with  all  the  patronage  of  the  Church  behind  him,  the 
protection  of  three  successive  Popes,  and  the  study  of  Michael 
Angelo's  Sixtine  Chapel,  eventually  did  supreme  work,  which 
ennobled  the  timid  means  by  which  he  had  achieved  greatness. 
The  "Ansidei  Madonna"  is  remarkable  as  the  work  of  an  intelli- 
gent pupil  to  Perugino,  so  far  not  nearly  equal  in  delicacy  and 
penetration  to  his  master,  although  beginning  to  leave  his  first 
style  bv  the  influence  of  Fra  Bartolommeo.  I  cannot  find  that  any 
idolater  has  been  able  to  see  a  trace  of  individual  thought  in  the 
work.  Had  Raphael  ended  here,  nothing  but  search  among  the 
smaller  masters  of  the  time  would  have  discovered  him.  There 
is  a  question — a  narrow  one  perhaps — but  not  so  much  now  as 
when  other  countries  become  reciprocal  to  our  generosity.  It  is 
whether  Rossetti  was  a  foreigner  ?  In  blood  he  certainly  was  ; 
in  place  of  birth,  he  was  not.  The  means  of  determining  the 
point  for  the  artistic  result  is  to  consider  how  far  he  would  have 
been  affected  had  he  been  born  and  brought  up  in  Italy,  how  far 
his  invention  was  affected  by  the  influence  of  the  character  of 
thought  ruling  in  England  r  Classicalism,  till  the  middle  of  the 
last  centurv,  was  becoming  too  imperious.  It  was  like  an  aristo- 
cracy ruling  without  regard  to  the  wants  of  a  people.  Classi- 
calism a  few  centuries  before  had  (jiven  refinement,  elegance,  and 


xni      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      359 

even  spirit  to  the  Gothic  ;  but  it  had  become  overbearing  and 
was  dying  from  artificiality.  Gothicism  opportunely  came  for- 
ward in  different  form.  It  is  most  easily  recognised  in  the 
revival  of  literature  in  the  Middle  Ages.  Warton's  History  of 
English  Poetry  first  marked  and  encouraged  its  uprising.  Percy1  $ 
Relics  extended  it.  Goldsmith  was  affected  strongly  by  it.  It 
gathered  strength  in  the  hands  of  Burns,  Scott,  Wordsworth, 
Coleridge,  and  Keats.  Painting  is  always  behind  literature,  but 
several  painters  had  worked  in  its  spirit,  more  than  are  at  first 
recognised  as  revivalists,  for  the  Renaissance  culture  sometimes 
masked  it,  and  the  workers  themselves  gave  it  no  name  but 
nature.  In  Germany  there  had  undoubtedly  been  a  similar 
movement,  which  had  affected  its  art,  but  it  had  been  separate 
from  ours.  In  Italy,  in  France,  and  in  Spain  there  had  been 
nothing  of  the  kind.  Had  Rossetti  been  born  and  brought 
up  in  either  of  these  countries,  his  art  would  have  been  totally 
different.  His  work  was  an  outcome  of  English  thought  and 
enterprise,  and  for  artistic  considerations  we  do  right,  I  think,  to 
claim  him  as  an  Englishman.  Men  write  and  talk  very  often  as 
though  there  were  great  patronage  of  art  in  England.  If  it 
were  so,  would  it  not  be  a  greater  disgrace  that,  having  executed 
"The  Annunciation,"  Rossetti,  although  an  Englishman,  never 
obtained  a  commission  to  do  any  public  work,  with  the  exception 
of  the  altar-piece  of  Llandaff  Cathedral  spoken  of  before,  which 
his  friend  Seddon  put  into  his  hands  r  I  have  heard  men  express 
wonder  that  our  artists  do  so  few  great  works  of  permanent  value. 
Artists  cannot  work  for  patrons  not  born.  The  bravest  spirits 
get  disheartened  with  a  struggle  in  which  the  opportunities  are 
never  given  to  them.  It  has  been  recorded — doubtless  faithfully 
— that  Rossetti  in  his  later  days  said,  if  he  had  his  will  he  would 
never  do  any  more  painting. 

If  this  meeting  to  do  honour  to  Rossetti  is  ever  to  bear  any 
fruit — if  we  are  to  take  away  any  lesson  from  the  record  of  his 
career,  it  is  that  our  svstem  of  leaving  the  cultivation  of  art  taste 
to  buyers  prompted  by  passing  fashion  only,  and  to  committees  for 
the  erection  of  public  monuments,  many  of  whom  know  nothing 
of  or,  still  worse,  have  only  half  studied  the  matters  of  which 
they  have  to  judge,  is  a  fatal  one.  I  say  this  earnestly  in  the 
interests  of  the  generation  to  come.  England  has  so  far  wasted 
genius,  such  as  no  other  country  in  the  modern  world  has  pro- 
duced, and  it  will  continue  to  do  so  unless  the  people  in  authority 
take  counsel  to  treat  art  worthily,  and  to  find  out  men,  who,  like 
Rossetti,  work  from  direct  inspiration,  and  not  in  the  servile 
transcribing  of  fact  or  in  the  imitation  of  work  bv  others,  which 


360         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

may  have  been  living  in  the  hands  of  the  originators,  but  goes 
dead,  never  again  to  be  resuscitated,  in  the  process  of  repetition. 

To  have  been  of  personal  use  to  myself  and  my  companion, 
any  declaration  of  the  interests  affecting  art  should  have  been 
made  before  our  course  had  been  so  far  run  ;  the  change  now  can 
only  be  of  use  for  future  workers.  Being  so,  I  am  the  bolder  in 
advocating  it  as  the  best  testimonial  to  be  made  to  those  who 
have  laboured  earnestly  for  their  generation  without  due  recogni- 
tion, as  did  Rossetti. 

It  is  appropriate  that  I  should  now  speak  of  the  work 
which  Ford  Madox  Brown  was  executing  at  Manchester. 
He  had  been  engaged  by  the  City  Council  to  execute  a 
series  of  designs  illustrating  the  history  of  Manchester. 
It  was  agreed  that  the  utmost  to  be  expended  was  ^300  a 
year,  and  Brown  was  engaged  for  the  first  panels  of  the 
series.  It  was  but  poor  pay  indeed,  for  he  had  to 
expend  much  time  in  reading  and  in  working  out  his 
subjects,  thus  each  picture  engaged  all  his  time  for  a 
full  year.  They  were  intently  thought  out  and  each 
realised  incidents  of  dramatic  interest  to  the  country. 
The  series  begins  with  the  "  Building  of  the  Fort  of 
Manchester,"  and  proceeds  through  Saxon  times  with  the 
Danes  being  driven  out  of  the  city,  to  historical  incidents 
of  the  past  and  current  century.  The  compositions  are 
quaint,  but  rich  in  poetic  ideas  calculated  to  enthral  the 
imagination  of  young  and  old.  Eventually,  he  was  com- 
missioned to  complete  the  series.  Under  such  pressure 
as  that  at  which  he  worked,  certain  parts  were  very  much 
hurried  and  criticisable,  but  all  may  be  safely  left  to  be 
valued  by  posterity,  that  "  very  bad  paymaster,"  when  many 
other  pretentious  works  of  the  same  day  will  be  left  un- 
regarded. Ill-fortune  had  ever  tracked  Madox  Brown, 
and  gradually  ill-health  began  to  show  itself. 

Mr.  Whistler  first  claimed  marked  attention  in  1860 
by  his  painting  "  At  the  Piano,"  a  striking  example  of 
frank  manipulation  and  of  wholesome  but  not  exhaustive 
colour,  it  was  purchased  by  John  Phillip  with  loud  appre- 
ciation of  its  qualities.  In  1863  Whistler  exhibited  the 


xin      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      361 

portrait  of  his  mother,  which  was  in  a  good  light  just 
above  the  line ;  this  portrait  made  no  attempt  at  profundity 
of  tone  and  richness  ;  it  was  limited  throughout,  though 
complete  in  its  aims  and  impressive.  My  frequent 
absence  from  England  prevented  me  from  seeing  many  of 
his  works  ;  memory  therefore  probably  does  not  enable 
me  to  do  him  full  justice,  but  I  cannot  hesitate  to  record 
that  at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery  he  showed  defiant  sloven- 
liness of  work,  which  he  could  not  have  intended  to  be 
taken  seriously.  A  daring  example  in  my  mind  was  a  life- 
size  canvas,  loosely  smeared  with  paint,  which  professed  to 
represent  a  ballet  dancer,  and  another  dashing  abozzo, 
said  to  be  a  portrait,  scarcely  fell  outside  this  category. 
I  have  since  seen  other  works  of  his  which  are  rated  as 
masterpieces  ;  they  may  merit  this  designation  in  being 
thorough  in  all  that  he  intended  to  express.  He  knew 
where  it  was  prudent  for  him  to  leave  off ;  but  the  great 
artists  with  whom  he  is  sometimes  classed  knew  how  to 
go  on  beyond  his  farthest  measure,  and  I  believe  it  is 
not  wise  in  this  day  of  superficial  excellence  to  approve 
what  delivers  us  over  to  smartness  with  poverty  in  poetic 
refinement. 

An  admiring  lady  shortly  afterwards,  when  his  good 
fortune  in  financial  affairs  seemed  to  have  come  to  a  dead- 
lock, accosted  him  with,  "  I  am  truly  sorry,  Mr.  Whistler, 
to  hear  that  you  have  been  in  considerable  difficulties 
lately."  "  Whatever  can  you  mean,  I  wonder,"  he  replied, 
"  I'm  not  in  any  trouble."  She  said  that  she  was  indeed 
rejoiced  to  hear  it,  for  she  had  been  told  that  he  had 
suffered  from  extreme  money  complications.  "  You  mean 
that  I  can't  pay  my  creditors  ?  Oh  yes,  but  don't  pity 
me.  Pity  the  poor  devils  that  won't  get  their  money!" 
This  levity  of  nature  could  not  but  affect  his  otherwise 
maturer  art.  All  his  wit  that  I  heard  of  was  not  of  that 
nature  which  transfixes  truth  by  a  subtle  shaft,  but  only  of 
the  kind  which  amuses  for  the  moment,  like  a  conjurer's 
trick  confusing  common  sense. 

Some  of  his  early  etchings  of  scenes   on   the  Thames 


362         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

were  admirable  ;  but  his  later  work  with  the  needle  was 
careful  only  in  the  avoidance  of  those  difficulties  that 
come  in  the  attempt  to  combine  compound  qualities. 

In  this  running  commentary  it  would  be  a  glaring 
omission  not  to  state  that  Herkomer,  after  some  years 
of  premonitory  challenge,  in  1875  awakened  the  attention 
of  the  exhibition  world  by  his  excellent  painting  of 
"  Chelsea  Pensioners,"  and  he  confirmed  his  reputation 
with  some  masterly  portraits  exhibited  in  the  Grosvenor 
Gallery  and  the  Academy. 

Shields's  grace  was  displayed  in  "  The  Good  Shepherd  " 
and  seen  in  many  church  decorations,  and,  apart  from  this 
claim  to  excellence,  he  rose  to  distinction  by  illustrations 
to  Defoe's  story  of  The  Plague. 

The  party  of  medievalists  had  increased  and  was  now 
daily  gaining  a  wider  world  of  admirers.  It  traced  itself 
to  the  original  example  of  Overbeck  and  through  Madox 
Brown  to  Rossetti,  through  the  channel  of  whose  labours 
the  love  of  nature  could  more  or  less  be  found  mingled 
with  it,  but  its  true  recommendation  was  its  antiquarianism, 
which  was  always  welcomed  by  the  ecclesiastical  party. 
The  Rev.  E.  Young,  in  a  book  published  in  antagonism  to 
Ruskin's  pamphlet  defending  Millais  and  myself  in  1851, 
wrote  :  "  All  I  ask  is  that  heaven-born  realists  would  at 
least  abstain  from  Scripture  subjects."  The  party  this 
reverend  critic  represented  soon  recognised  that  Rossetti  in 
his  earliest  work  (and  those  who  accentuated  his  antiquari- 
anism) did  what  was  looked  upon  as  the  appropriate 
decoration  for  churches  of  the  Gilbert  Scott  type.  The 
aims  of  the  medievalists  were  free  from  all  suspicion  of  the 
new  and  unexpected  in  their  designs.  Each  incident  and 
the  general  treatment  was  bounded  by  Church  precedent  of 
centuries  ago.  The  yeast  of  Christianity  had  ceased  to 
leaven  the  whole  lump,  and  the  new  school  of  Churchmen 
and  their  Church  decorators  were  bound  never  to  show 
advance  in  critical  understanding.  To  label  the  painters 
who  worked  in  this  spirit  Pre-Raphaehtes  was  in  accord 
with  the  first  distortion  of  the  meaning  of  the  word,  in 


xin      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      363 

this  sense  the  name  became  "  precious,"  and  was  ardently 
acclaimed  by  what  was  called  the  "  Utter  School  " — a  flock 
of  creatures  hovering  around  the  central  constellations, 
sometimes  altogether  obscuring  their  leaders  by  their 
egoistical  excesses  and  obtrusive  adumbrations. 

Abstention  by  Rossetti  from  public  exhibition  had  in 
the  end  been  far  from  causing  a  decrease  in  his  popularity. 
His  course  led  to  the  conviction  among  a  large  circle  of 
amateurs  of  the  day  that  artists  who  painted  for  the 
public  eye,  allowing  crowds  to  come  to  their  private  views, 
must  be  of  Philistine  calibre.  In  1854  Gabriel  in  his 
picture  "  Found  "  had  made  a  hearty  attempt  to  adopt  our 
method  of  exact  allegiance  to  Nature,  and  in  doing  this 
he  marked  his  final  departure  from  the  "  Early  Christian  " 
school,  to  which,  through  Ford  Madox  Brown,  he  had 
devoted  himself.  His  non-completion  of  this  had  a  great 
significance.  In  some  of  his  pen-and-ink  and  water- 
colour  drawings,  however,  he  had  shown  for  a  time  our 
original  interest  in  variety  of  natural  incident  and  personal 
character,  as,  for  instance,  in  his  "  Monk  Illuminating," 
"  The  Lady  Poisoner,"  "  The  Madonna  in  the  House  of 
St.  John,"  "  Mary  Magdalene  at  the  door  of  Simeon,"  and 
"  Dr.  Johnson  and  the  Quaker  Ladies."  This  obedience  to 
natural  invention  was,  it  will  be  seen,  but  transient,  and 
never  afterwards  revived  in  his  oil  practice,  indeed  he  soon 
branched  ofF  into  a  treatment,  sensuous  and  august,  which, 
as  some  thought,  gradually  grew  to  be  overpowering,  as  is 
the  odour  of  voluptuous  perfumes  in  a  closed  room.  In 
furtherance  of  this  exotic  spirit  he  indulged  in  a  mannered 
posing  of  figures,  and  the  adoption  of  a  uniform  type  of 
feature  expressing  his  ideal  of  beauty,  which,  intended 
or  not,  betokened  indifference  to  healthful  variations  ot 
character.  His  privacy  at  the  time  kept  his  later  works 
from  my  knowledge,  until  one  by  one  in  the  course  of 
years  they  have  been  seen  in  loan  exhibitions  and  sale- 
rooms. The  manner  he  developed  showed  a  settled 
aversion  to  the  vertebrate  principle  of  Pre-Raphaelitism  in 
its  original  inception,  for  this  was  primarily  the  exercise  of 


364         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

discrimination  in  the  individuality  of  every  character 
depicted,  in  order  the  better  to  make  manifest  how 
varied  and  bounteous  Nature  is  in  her  gift  of  beauty 
to  the  world.  The  exquisite  execution  of  the  com- 
ponent parts  of  these  paintings  did  honour  to  his 
Brotherhood  training.  Burne-Jones,  Spencer  Stanhope 
(the  latter  had  enrolled  himself  in  his  earlier  work  as  of 
naturalistic  aims),  Strudwick,  and  one  or  two  other 
medievalists,  took  up  Rossetti's  first  manner,  but  did  not 
follow  him  in  the  ornate  strain  of  his  last  period,  adopting 
instead  a  spirit  of  grace  and  purism  approaching,  as  it 
seemed  to  some,  the  abandonment  of  a  virile  temper  in 
favour  of  a  sweetness  altogether  feminine.  Where  such 
spirit  was  in  accord  with  the  theme  treated  as  in  Burne- 
Jones'  pictures  "  The  Days  of  Creation "  and  "  The 
Hours,"  no  contentiousness  could  restrain  full  admiration 
of  the  work. 

Other  painters  loved  to  exaggerate  the  more  "  en- 
franchised "  phase  of  Rossetti's  mind,  and  with  these  were 
joined  many,  not  graphic  or  plastic  artists,  but  men  of 
literary  aims  who  caricatured  the  verbal  sentiments  of 
Rossetti,  who  intensified  what  they  represented  to  be  his 
ideas  with  obtrusive  parade.  Talking  in  mincing  affectation 
and  adopting  a  tone  which  they  stamped  as  that  of  extreme 
"  culture,"  these  busy  jackanapes  were  characterised  in  a 
spirit  of  irony  as  "  unutterably  utter."  Gilbert  and  Sullivan 
in  the  opera  of  Patience,  and  Du  Maurier  in  Punch,  held 
them  up  to  deserved  ridicule,  without,  however,  at  the  time 
abashing  these  defiers  of  all  common-sense  in  the  slightest 
degree.  It  had  been  from  the  beginning  a  penalty  that  if 
any  one  of  our  body  provoked  hostility,  justly  or  unjustly, 
each  other  of  the  active  members  had  to  suffer.  Accord- 
ingly, the  appearance  in  force  of  many  quattrocentists  of 
different  degrees  of  ability,  and  the  loud  exaggerators  of 
Rossetti's  defiant  sensuousness,  led  unthinking  critics  again 
to  say  that  these  quattrocentists  and  the  affected  foppery 
of  their  frenzied  satellites  were  alike  the  representatives  of 
Pre-Raphaelitism,  and  so  some  of  the  public  applied  to 


xin      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     365 

Pre-Raphaelitism  itself  such  ridicule  as  appeared  in  the 
opera,  while  it  was  in  fact  justly  directed  against  what  might 
be  considered  the  alien  fringe  and  reversing  mirage  of  our 
company.  The  outrageous  sentimentalists  in  fact  distorted 
every  emotion  of  human  sympathy  and  tore  "passion  to 
tatters  "  in  hysteric  grimacings,  that  would  relegate  healthy 
manliness  to  be  a  mark  of  childishness  or  rudeness,  and 
would  deny  the  name  of  poetry  to  all  that  was  not  sickly 
and  morbid.  The  gushing  tatterdemalions  who  paraded 
their  idolatory  for  this  rotten  affectation  of  genius  were 
satirised  thus  in  Patience  : — 

If  you're  anxious  to  shine  in  the  high  aesthetic  line,  as  a  man  of  culture 
rare, 

You  must  get  up  all  the  germs  of  the  transcendental  terms  and  plant 
them  everywhere. 

You  must  lie  on  beds  of  daisies  and  discant  in  novel  phrases  of  your 
complicated  state  of  mind. 

The  reason  doesn't  matter  if  the  subjects  only  chatter  of  a  tran- 
scendental kind. 

And  every  one  will  say,  as  you  walk  your  mystic  way, 

If  this  young  man  can  understand  these  things  that  are  far  too  hard 
for  me, 

Why,  what  a  very  cultivated,  clever  young  man,  this  clever  young  man 
must  be  ! 

And  again  : — 

Then   a  sentimental  passion   of  a  vegetable   fashion   must  excite   your 

languid  spleen, 
An  attachment  a  la  Plato,  to  a  bashful  young  potato  or  a  not  too  French, 

French  bean. 
Though  the   Philistines  may  jostle  you  will   rank  as  an  apostle  in  the 

high  aesthetic  band, 
If  you  walk  down  Piccadilly  with  a   poppy  or  a   lily  in  your   mediaeval 

hand. 


Again  :  — 


A  Japanese  young  man — 
A  blue  and  white  young  man — 
Francesca  di  Rimini,  niminy  piminy, 
Je  ne  sais  quoi  young  man. 


366         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

A  pallid  and  thin  young  man — 
A  haggard  and  lank  young  man  — 
A  greenery-yallery,  Grosvenor  Gallery, 
Foot  in  the  grave  young  man. 

This  was  no  mere  passing  frivolity,  it  was  the  fumes 
from  festering  decay  ;  it  was  the  complete  distortion  of  art 
which  is  the  highest  perfecting  principle  of  the  human 
mind,  expressed  by  strenuous  labour.  The  Lord  of 
Misrule  had  usurped  the  throne  and  was  caricaturing 
beauty  and  wisdom  into  tawdry  over-dressed  vanity  and 
tolly.  The  men  who  thus  turned  honour  into  dishonour, 
and  travestied  innocent  gladsomeness  into  licence  and 
raillery,  were  equipped  with  weapons  first  made  for  the 
hands  of  virtue.  Pertness  was  made  to  pass  as  wit,  and 
contempt  of  common  sense  as  wisdom  ;  it  was  rioting 
and  selfishness  masked  by  pretentious  learning  and 
sophistical  philosophy  alluring  weak  minds  with  the  sheen 
of  superficial  culture.  Many  of  its  votaries  were  employed 
on  the  press,  and  as  their  sympathies  were  with  false  art,  so 
they  used  their  opportunities  to  applaud  sham  sentiment, 
and  to  uphold  all  artists  in  letters  or  in  picture  images  who 
mocked  rectitude,  and  who  disported  themselves  in  topsy- 
turveydom  or  in  wild  recklessness  of  handling.  One 
of  these  public  teachers  took  opportunity  when  writing  of 
"  The  Sentinel  of  Pompeii,"  honoured  by  all  with  common 
sense  as  the  typical  representative  of  life's  devotion  to  duty, 
as  the  "  personification  of  crass  stupidity."  Suffice  it  to  say 
that  the  system  of  appreciation  of  current  exhibition 
work  was  dictated  by  a  kindred  rule  of  honouring  all 
flippant  selfishness.  It  was  a  relief  to  the  healthy-minded 
that  not  many  years'  toleration  for  such  noxious  examples 
and  precepts  were  needed  to  bring  them  to  shame  and 
destruction. 

For  simple  Pre-Raphaelitism  some  able  neophytes 
still  appeared.  E.  R.  Hughes,  with  a  sweet  drawing 
at  the  Academy,  and  Cecil  Lawson,  in  his  "  Minister's 
Garden,"  seemed  well  capable  of  representing  not  only 
the  literal  truth  but  the  healthy  poetic  spirit  of  our 


xni      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     367 

principles.  It  was  apparent,  however,  that  many  who 
deluded  themselves  that  they  were  adopting  our  ideals 
went  out  to  the  fields,  and  sitting  down  transcribed  chance 
scenes  touch  by  touch,  without  recognising  that  art  is  not 
prosaic  reproduction.  Every  hour  a  view,  indoors  or  out- 
doors, near  or  far,  changes  its  phase,  and  the  artist  must 
capture  that  which  best  reflects  the  heavens.  The  dull 
man  does  not  discern  the  image  of  the  celestial  in  earthly 
things,  and  his  work  accordingly  may  be  deservedly  admired 
for  its  care  and  delicacy,  but  the  spectator  passes  by  and 
forgets  it.  Yet  the  painters  of  such  works  were  often  cited 
as  masters  of  the  purest  Pre-Raphaelitism.  The  special 
champions  of  our  third  member  in  his  later  phases,  treated 
Millais  and  myself  as  unmoved  by  the  canonical  breath  of 
poetic  dogma.  When  it  was  pointed  out  to  them  that  our 
pictures  had  never  attempted  quattrocentism,  they  met  this 
argument  with  the  conclusion  that  we  two  were  unable  to 
reach  the  exalted  heights  of  the  "  arch  Pre-Raphaelite." 
But  this  was  not  all,  comments  on  the  men  treading  in 
our  footsteps  were  framed  only  to  make  our  guilt  more 
undeniable. 

Ensuing  upon  the  disappointments  in  the  sale  of  our 
first  works,  occasioned  by  the  fury  of  the  press,  Millais 
had  recognised  the  imprudence  of  undertaking  paintings 
the  price  of  which  would  put  them  beyond  the  reach  of 
collectors  or  dealers  unwilling  to  risk  more  than  a  small 
sum  on  the  venture.  It  might  be  possible  to  adduce 
examples  of  painters  who,  not  being  original  reformers,  had 
escaped  the  bitter  hostility  of  critics,  and  had  later  come 
forward  with  subjects  manifestly  built  upon  themes  which 
Millais  had  used  under  need  of  restraint  as  to  develop- 
ment and  price.  The  newcomer  was  held  up  as  an 
example  to  us,  was  lauded  beyond  measure,  and  accord- 
ingly obtained  a  price  for  his  first  success  thrice  what 
Millais  had  been  able  to  count  upon. 

John  Brett's  picture  of  "  Val  d'Aosta "  is  a  case  in 
point,  which  in  a  similar  way  had  a  prototype  in  one 
of  ours.  He  sold  it  to  Ruskin  for  300  guineas.  To 


368         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

his  later  picture  "  The  Stone  Breaker  "  similar  observations 
would  apply.  Owing  to  the  miserable  prices  with  which 
we  had  to  be  content,  it  will  be  seen  how  much  less  hand- 
some use  we  could  make  of  our  powers  in  the  early  days 
than  some  of  our  followers  were  able  to  do  in  their  day, 
and  this  was  assuredly  due  to  the  fact  that  they  followed 
our  example,  when  the  strangeness  of  our  style  had  already 
begun  to  disappear  by  repeated  familiarity  to  the  eyes 
of  annual  visitors  at  exhibitions,  and  to  critics  who  had 
committed  themselves  to  denunciation  of  the  original 
offenders. 

But  to  return  to  passing  events. 

Sir  William  Agnew,  after  the  exhibition  of  "  The 
Shadow  of  Death"  throughout  the  country,  liberally 
presented  it  to  the  Manchester  Town  Council  for  their 
permanent  gallery.  For  years  after  my  return  with  the 
"  Innocents  "  picture  I  retained  my  Jerusalem  house,  in  the 
lingering  hope  that  I  might  still  use  it  for  subjects  that  I 
had  postponed  for  leisurely  treatment,  but  it  was  becom- 
ing evidently  impossible  to  overcome  the  obstacles  in 
the  way  of  my  immediate  return.  At  this  juncture  I 
delighted  in  taking  in  hand  a  few  small  pictures  of  no 
very  definite  subject,  relying  alone  on  their  aesthetic 
character.  To  this  end  I  brought  to  completion  "  The 
Bethlehem  Bride,"  "Amaryllis,"  and  "Sorrow."1  My 
aim  was  to  give  varying  types  of  womanhood  with 
unaffected  innocence  of  sentiment.  An  artist  should 
always  make  sure  that  in  his  treatment  of  Nature 
alone  he  is  able  to  incorporate  some  new  enchantment  to 
justify  his  claim  as  a  master  of  his  craft,  doing  this  at 
times  without  reliance  on  any  special  interest  in  the 
subject  he  may  illustrate.  Millais,  I  have  proved,  was 
most  rigidly  staunch  at  the  beginning  of  the  contest. 
I  claim  that  he  never  actually  abandoned  reliance  upon 
our  living  principle.  Notwithstanding  his  occasional 
lapse  into  unelevated  themes,  he  was  moved  by  a 
wonderful  rebounding  power  which  enabled  him  often 

1  The  property  of  the  late  Mr.  George  Lillie  Craik. 


xni      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     369 

to  reaffirm  his  poetic  insight  with  commanding  strength. 
His  "  Eve  of  St.  Agnes "  must  not  be  forgotten  as  a 
wonderful  example  of  poetic  power.  It  is  not  Keats' 
"  Madelene,"  and  it  has  not  the  surroundings  of  the  age 
illustrated  in  the  poem.  It  is  the  main  idea  only  which 
is  derived  from  Keats.  The  manner  is  altogether  the 
painter's  own.  Any  one  who  looks  upon  this  work, 
upon  his  "  North-West  Passage,"  his  "  Vale  of  Rest,"  and 
a  picture  of  "Cinderella"  that  he  painted  at  the  begin- 
ning of  the  nineties,  must  recognise  the  painter's  claim 
still  to  rank  with  the  highest  of  those  in  any  age  who 
wielded  the  brush  ;  who  does  not,  has  gone  very  little 
way  in  art  discrimination.  His  original  steadfastness 
was  more  admirable  in  my  eyes,  because  in  general 
sentiment  he  was — not  speaking  politically — a  steadfast 
Conservative,  and  had  unlimited  reverence  for  the  powers 
that  be,  and  this  strain  in  his  nature  induced  him  in  the 
fulness  of  time  to  covet  contemporary  recognition  and 
honours.  A  baronetcy  was  conferred  on  him  in  1885, 
and  he  was  happy  in  his  exaltation.  In  talking  to  him 
at  about  this  date  I  asked,  "  Can  you  remember  what 
paper  it  was  in  1849  which,  in  its  art  review,  spoke  of  our 
two  pictures  at  the  Royal  Academy  as  the  main  feature  of 
the  exhibition,  and  greeted  them  with  marked  respect  ? 
I  was  told  of  this,  but  never  saw  the  article  myself." 

"  No,  I  certainly  do  not  remember  one  generous  word 
printed  of  us  the  first  year,  and  the  second  year,  when 
Rossetti  had  given  away  our  secret,  I  remember  only 
treatment  that  would  have  been  unwarrantably  cruel  had 
we  been  the  vilest  criminals.  No,  we  made  a  miserable 
mistake  in  accepting  others  to  form  a  Brotherhood  with 
us,  when  we  knew  little  or  nothing  of  their  abilities  and 
dispositions.  One  condition  of  our  compact  was  that 
we  should  become  helpful  to  one  another,  as  a  means 
of  making  our  Body  the  stronger.  The  practical 
interpretation  of  this  on  the  part  of  the  others  was 
amusingly  one-sided.  You  taught  Gabriel  to  paint  at 
a  perilous  sacrifice  to  yourself,  and  I  kept  back  no  secret 

VOL.   II  2    B 


370         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

from  him.  We  brought  out  our  very  precious  guineas 
to  start  The  Germ,  so  that  the  writers  could  publish  their 
poems  and  articles  ;  and  we  did  etchings  in  addition,  and 
met  other  liabilities  incurred  for  their  advantage.  Did 

D 

they  ever  do  anything  for  us  ?  No  !  Gabriel  stole  a 
march  on  us  to  get  the  picture  which  you  had  helped  him 
to  paint  seen  in  the  Hyde  Park  Exhibition  a  week  before 
ours  appeared  in  the  Royal  Academy,  and  when  he  found 
the  penalty  of  public  exhibition  was  to  suffer  abuse,  he 
left  us  to  bear  it  all  alone,  and  when  he  felt  that  he 
could  stand  alone,  he  studiously  kept  out  of  our  way. 
A  few  years  ago,  not  having  seen  Rossetti  since  you  were 
first  abroad,  I  met  him  one  evening  at  Sandys'  studio,  and 
he  warmed  up  somewhat  in  his  mood,  and  coming  out 
late  at  night  we  walked  together  till  he  came  to  my  house. 
As  he  asked  me  what  I  was  doing  in  the  old  way,  I  said, 
if  he  liked,  I  would  take  him  into  the  studio,  which  1 
did  ;  and  on  leaving  he  pressed  me  to  come  and  see  him. 
Twice  I  called  and  was  refused  at  the  door,  and  he  never 
wrote  to  me  any  explanation,  and  I  could  see  he  was 
determined  to  indulge  his  old  jealous  temper.  Why,  it 
was  only  a  month  ago  that  I  passed  one  of  the  set  in  a 
cab,  and  when  I  nodded  to  him  he  held  up  his  head  and 
looked  quite  indignant." 

I  replied,  "  I  am  sure  the  man  you  mean  couldn't  have 
done  that  but  from  failure  to  recognise  you." 

"  Oh  no,  I  am  sure  he  knew  me  very  well.  Have  you 
seen  a  book  on  Rossetti  by  Knight  ?  You  haven't !  Mary 
read  it  to  me  lately,  and  in  the  evening  afterwards  I  met 
him  at  the  Garrick,  and  went  to  him  saying,  '  You've 
written  a  very  readable  and  plausible  book  about 
Rossetti  ;  but  it  is  altogether  a  romance.  Why,  instead 
of  getting  your  information  from  the  family,  didn't  you 
come  to  me  or  go  to  Holman  Hunt  ?'  And  when  I  told 
him  the  facts  of  the  case  he  avowed  that  he  would  not 
have  published  his  book  as  it  was  had  he  known  the 
facts.  All  this  distortion  of  our  real  purpose  as  Pre- 
Raphaelites  makes  me  disposed  to  repudiate  the  name." 


xiir      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     371 

One  Sunday  afternoon  he  called  upon  me  at  Fulham, 
and  at  the  end  of  his  visit  told  me  that  Charles  Keene,  the 
Punch  illustrator,  was  seriously  ill,  and  sinking  in  decline. 
He  wanted  to  call  upon  him,  but  didn't  know  in  which 
part  of  Hammersmith  he  lived,  so  I  volunteered  to  walk 
with  him  to  find  Keene's  house.  Sallying  out  we  went 
through  the  churchyard  to  the  Bishop's  Walk,  when 


THE    MOAT,   FULHAM     PALACK. 


suddenly  he  stopped  and  said,  "  You  are  leading  me  all 
wrong,  we  ought  to  go  that  way,"  pointing  back  to  town. 
I  replied,  "  Not  at  all.  You  trust  me.  I  know  the  neigh- 
bourhood well." 

The  fields  of  the  Bishop's  Park  were  full  of  strollers 
with  their  families.  Looking  around  he  spoke  out,  "  Bless 
my  soul  alive,  do  you  mean  to  tell  me  that  that's  the  place 
where,  when  I  was  a  child,  I  used  to  come  fishing  for 
sticklebacks?"  Still  speaking,  as  if  to  the  public,  "Only 


372         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

think,  and  now  here  am  I  a  baronet  and  all  that  sort  of 
thing,  with  a  fishing  of  my  own  of  several  miles,  and  land 
to  shoot  over."  The  public  stared  at  him  almost  as 
though  he  were  as  important  as  the  bishop  himself. 

We  found  the  home  of  the  Punch  illustrator.  He 
was  sitting  in  a  well-stored  library,  looking  a  very  Don 
Quixote  avowing  the  recognition  that  he  was  on  the  last 
stage  of  his  knight-errantry  in  this  world. 

Millais  in  the  eighties  and  the  beginning  of  the  next 
decade  had  been  vigorous,  hearty,  and  as  full  of  passion 
for  his  painting  as  when  he  was  a  boy.  He  worked 
quickly,  and  had  not  endless  patience  for  a  protracted 
composition  ;  but  he  was  still,  according  to  the  original 
principle,  a  Pre-Raphaelite,  and  his  work  went  to  prove 
that  our  England  again  held  a  high  place  among  the  artistic 
nations  of  the  world,  as  high  as  her  artists  could  make  it 
without  a  public  behind  them  fully  to  appreciate  the 
vital  importance  of  art.  Yet  he  had  been  driven  to 
believe  that  a  man  should  adapt  himself  to  the  temper  of 
his  time,  and  many  a  friendly  bout  occurred  between  him 
and  me  on  this  theme.  I  contended  that  reasonable  limits 
to  this  necessity  must  not  be  overstepped.  He  accused 
me  of  adopting  a  too  unbending  attitude  towards  a  happy- 
minded  world.  "You  argue,"  he  said,  "that  if  I  paint 
for  the  passing  fashion  of  the  day  my  reputation  some 
centuries  hence  will  not  be  what  my  powers  would 
secure  for  me  if  I  did  more  ambitious  work.  I  don't 
agree.  A  painter  must  work  for  the  taste  of  his  own 
flay.  How  does  he  know  what  people  will  like  two  or 
three  hundred  years  hence  ?  I  maintain  that  a  man  should 
hold  up  the  mirror  to  his  own  times.  I  want  proof  that 
the  people  of  my  day  enjoy  my  work,  and  how  can  I 
get  this  better  than  by  finding  people  willing  to  give  me 
money  for  my  productions,  and  that  I  win  honours  from 
contemporaries.  What  good  would  recognition  of  my 
labours  hundreds  of  years  hence  do  me  ?  I  should  be 
dead,  buried,  and  crumbled  into  dust.  Don't  let  us 
bother  ourselves  about  the  destinies  of  our  work  in  the 


xin      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     373 

world,  but  as  it  brings  us  fortune  and  recognition.  Let 
the  artists  of  the  future  work  for  the  future,  they  will 
see  what's  wanted.  Why,  you  admit  you  can't  paint 
more  large  pictures  because  people  don't  take  off  your 
hands  those  which  you  have  done.  Of  course  you  can't, 
but  isn't  this  proof  that  your  system  is  wrong  ?  For  my 
part  I  paint  what  there  is  a  demand  for.  There  is  a 
fashion  going  now  for  little  girls  in  mob  caps.  Well,  I 
satisfy  this  while  it  continues  ;  but  immediately  the  demand 
shows  signs  of  flagging,  I  am  ready  to  take  to  some  other 
fashion  of  the  last  century  which  people  now  are  quite 
keen  on,  or  I  shall  do  portraits  or  landscapes.  You  say 
that  if  the  world  went  on  this  system  it  would  never 
advance  at  all,  and  that  all  the  reformers  of  thought, 
Socrates  to  wit,  were  wrong  on  that  principle  ?  I  don't 
hesitate  to  say  they  were.  Why  should  he  have  tried 
to  interfere  with  the  beliefs  and  religions  of  the  day  ? 
There  were  priests  established  in  connection  with  the 
temples  to  teach  people !  It  was  not  his  business  to 
oppose  them  in  their  duties.  I  don't  pity  him,  and  it 
was  quite  natural  that  they  should  put  him  to  death, 
otherwise  he  would  always  have  gone  on  making  mischief; 
he  ought  to  have  attended  to  his  own  business,  and  then 
no  one  would  have  hated  him.  A  man  is  sure  to  get 
himself  disliked  if  he  is  always  opposing  the  powers 
that  be.  Now  I'm  really  sorry  when  I  see  you  attacking 
prejudices.  Why  did  you  make  that  wild  onslaught 
in  The  Times  on  the  Royal  Academy  ?  If  it  isn't  perfect, 
nothing  is  really  perfect.  You  say  that  the  laws  after 
one  hundred  and  twenty  years  require  great  modification, 
and  that  men  shouldn't  be  elected  from  within,  nor  in 
any  way  for  the  whole  term  of  their  life.  It's  only  a  few 
people,  who  are  impatient  to  get  in,  who  want  a  change. 
Oh,  I  don't  mean  you.  I  know  you  don't  want  to  be 
elected.  Now  look  at  -  — ,  he  used  always  to  say  he 
would  bringr  an  action  against  the  Academv  for  defamation 

O  O  J 

of  character  if  they  elected  him,  and  directly  we  did  elect 
him  he  was  only  too  glad  to  accept.  Well,  it's  the 


374         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

same  with  all  of  them.  The  change  they  want  is  the 
one  that  will  lead  to  their  being  enrolled  in  the  Body. 
Why  did  you  make  a  ferment  about  artists'  materials, 
saying  they  were  not  always  reliable  ?  you  only  disturb 
buyers'  confidence  in  pictures,  and  of  course  you  will 
suffer  as  well  as  others.  The  old  masters'  pictures  have 
often  changed.  You  won't  persuade  me  that  Titian 
painted  trees  and  vegetation  in  full  light  brown  and  black. 
Of  course  they  have  changed  ;  notwithstanding  this  the 
whole  is  still  beautiful  as  to  harmonious  colour.  A  painting 
which  is  of  good  colour  originally  may  alter  in  parts,  yet  it 
never  deteriorates  to  bad  colour  ;  but  a  painting  which  is 
bad  colour  at  first,  no  alteration  can  convert  into  good  colour 
to  the  day  of  doom.  Our  materials  are  quite  as  good  or  better 
than  those  which  the  old  fellows  had  ;  the  proof  is  the  won- 
derful way  in  which  the  paintings  that  we  did  more  than 
forty  years  ago  retain  their  brilliancy.  Why,  your  'Chris- 
tian and  Druids,'  'The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,'  'The 
Hireling  Shepherd,'  and  'The  Strayed  Sheep,'  are  as  bright 
and  sound  as  though  they  had  been  done  yesterday,  and 
so  are  mine  of  the  same  date.  It  is  true  that  lately,  when 
I  saw  the  '  Ophelia,'  some  of  the  foliage  had  gone  quite 
blue,  as  I  have  seen  leaves  in  Dutch  fruit  paintings  changed  ; 
but  I  could  put  it  right  in  half  an  hour  if  the  owner  would 
let  me  take  it  in  hand.  Lately,  you  know,  there  has  been  a 
prejudice  against  allowing  a  painter  to  touch  an  early  work 
of  his,  and  I  have  not  yet  heard  from  the  possessor  of  the 
'  Ophelia.' 1  Why,  my  picture  of  'Lorenzo  and  Isabella'  is 
as  pure  and  clear  as  any  early  Italian  or  German  work.  You 
say  we  happened  to  be  very  lucky  in  our  plan  of  painting 
in  one  coat  on  an  absolutely  white  ground,  and  with  copal 
varnish,  and  that  we  were  more  fortunate  than  we  knew 
of  at  the  time,  in  having  the  choicest  of  our  colours  pre- 

1  The  alteration  referred  to  came  from  the  use.  of  a  paint  called  chrome 
green,  which  we  were  assured  was  a  simple  chromium,  whereas  it  was  an 
admixture  of  chrome  yellow  and  Prussian  blue  identical  with  the  Brunswick 
green  used  by  house  painters  for  common  doors  and  palings,  Out-ot-door 
exposure  in  a  few  years  causes  the  combined  pigment  to  lose  all  its  yellow,  anil 
in  some  degree  this  seems  to  have  been  so  with  Millais'  picture. 


xni      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     375 

pared  by  George  Field,  whose  system  has  been  proved  to 
be  more  perfect  by  the  defects  of  imitation  pigment  supplied 
since,  and  labelled  with  the  same  names.  Well,  you  see, 
we  took  things  as  they  came,  and  we  were  very  right.  If 
we  had  gone  bothering  about,  waiting  till  we  had  proved 
that  the  materials  were  perfect,  we  should  never  have  done 
anything  to  this  day.  You  now  see,  my  dear  fellow,  that 
I  don't  like  you  to  be  always  thinking  about  the  remote 
future.  It  is  to-day  we  have  to  live,  and  you,  for  the 
sake  of  some  far-off  good  which  may  never  come  to  any- 
one, sacrifice  your  present  chances.  Why,  if  I  were  to  go 
on  like  you  do  I  should  never  be  able  to  go  away  in  the 
autumn  to  fish  or  to  shoot,  and  I  should  be  always  out  of 
health  and  spirits,  and  one  should  always  try  not  to  be 
a  'distressful  person.'  I  should  become  so  if  I  did  not 
get  my  holiday.  You  take  my  advice,  old  boy,  and  just 
take  the  world  as  it  is,  and  don't  make  it  your  business  to 
rub  up  people  the  wrong  way." 

I  had  indeed  hoped  to  convince  artists  that  it  was  a 
grievous  loss  to  their  profession  that  the  cessation  of  the 
old  system  of  apprenticeship  had  brought  about  ignorance 
and  indifference  to  the  character  of  the  materials  used  in 
their  work. 

Millais  went  on  to  say,  "  You've  talked  once  of  getting 
some  post  at  the  South  Kensington  Schools.  I  would  not 
really,  old  fellow,  advise  you  to  try.  You  would  only 
meet  with  rebuff,  for  I  know  that  the  officials  before  whom 
the  question  would  come  regard  you  as  a  kind  of  fire- 
brand, and  they  would  oppose  your  application  tooth  and 
nail.  This  is  one  of  the  consequences  of  your  wanting  to 
turn  the  natural  stream  out  of  its  bed,  and  you  can't  com- 
plain. Your  last  picture  of  '  The  Innocents  '  was  the  best 
you  ever  did.  I  know  your  powers  better  than  anybody. 
Set  to  work  to  meet  the  taste  of  our  own  day,  and  not 
that  of  the  future,  and  you  will  soon  get  over  your 
difficulties.  Why,  I've  just  sold  a  picture  done  in  two 
weeks  which  will  pay  the  expenses  of  all  my  family,  my 
shooting  and  fishing  too,  for  our  whole  time  in  Scotland." 


3y6  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.XIII 

Thus  Millais,  with  ever  transparent  impulsiveness,  re- 
vealed his  tempered  convictions  to  direct  me  to  a  prudent 
course. 

My  ever  affectionate  confidant  of  student  days,  being 
widely  known  for  his  excellent  qualities,  was  at  this  time 
a  favourite  of  society,  dividing  the  honours  of  con- 
temporary recognition  with  Leighton,  although  the  latter 
enjoyed  the  higher  dignity  of  President  of  the  Royal 
Academy. 


CHAPTER    XIV 

1889-1896 

Ghost-like  I  paced  round  the  haunts  of  my  childhood, 
Earth  seem'd  a  desert  I  was  bound  to  traverse, 
Seeking  to  find  the  old  familiar  faces. 

Friend  of  my  bosom,  thou  more  than  a  brother, 
Why  wert  not  thou  born  in  my  father's  dwelling  r 
So  might  we  talk  of  the  old  familiar  faces. 

How  some  they  have  died,  and  some  they  have  left  me, 
And  some  are  taken  from  me  ;   all  are  departed  ; 
All,  all  are  gone,  the  old  familiar  faces. 

C.  LAMB. 

A  Parsee  could  never  be  present  at  the  rising  of  the  sun  without 
bowing  himself  in  worship. — "  CAMA,"  an  Indian  Parsee. 

"  I  am  afraid,  my  Lord,"  Constable  said,  •"  the  judgment  of  a  painter 
is  of  very  little  value  in  an  auction  room  ;  for  we  only  know  good 
pictures  from  bad  ones.  We  know  nothing  of  their  pedigrees,  of  their 
market  value,  or  how  far  certain  masters  are  in  fashion." — C.  R.  LESLIE. 

I  NOW  used  the  leisurely  opportunity  which  the  postpone- 
ment of  further  travel  gave  me  to  paint  in  oil,  with 
extended  confines,  the  design  of  "  The  Lady  of  Shalott,"  as 
it  had  appeared  in  the  Tennyson  illustrated  volume.  I 
allowed  increased  space  above  the  head  and  at  the  sides 
of  the  composition,  which  gave  room  for  new  inventions 
to  make  manifest  the  significance  of  the  subject.  I 
had  advanced  far  with  this  work  when  the  spring  season 
reminded  me  that  the  date  was  near  for  reconsidering  a 
subject  long  in  my  mind,  which  my  Eastern  expeditions 

377 


378  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  xiv 

had  hitherto  hindered  me  from  taking  in  hand.  This 
subject  was  the  ceremony  of  May  morning,  Magdalen 
Tower,  Oxford,  at  sunrise,  when  the  choristers,  in  perpetua- 
tion of  a  service  which  is  a  survival  of  primitive  sun- 
worship, — perhaps  Druidical, — sing  a  hymn  as  the  sun 
appears  above  the  horizon.  On  the  morning  I  ascended 
the  Tower,  making  observations  and  sketches,  and  a  few 
days  later  I  returned  to  settle  to  work.  For  several 
weeks  I  mounted  to  the  Tower  roof  about  four  in  the 
morning  with  my  small  canvas  to  watch  for  the  first  rays 
of  the  rising  sun,  and  to  choose  the  sky  which  was  most 
suitable  for  the  subject.  When  all  was  settled  I  repeated 
the  composition  upon  a  larger  canvas,  the  President 
obligingly  placing  at  my  disposal  a  studio  in  the  new 
buildings  of  the  College. 

It  was  a  singular  pleasure  to  me  that  the  Rev.  Dr. 
Bloxam,  the  nephew  of  Sir  Thomas  Lawrence,  who  had 
been  active  in  saving  the  beautiful  rite  from  extinction, 
was  still  alive,  and  that  I  was  able  to  introduce  him  into 
the  picture.  It  was  exhibited  in  1891,  and  the  reproduc- 
tion was  made  by  the  Berlin  Photogravure  Company. 
This,  while  perfect  in  details,  was,  as  the  reproduction  of 
"  The  Innocents  "  had  been,  very  troublesome  in  needing 
work  to  make  the  general  effect  true.  It  was  while 
finishing  this  painting  at  Oxford  that  I  had  the 
last  opportunities  of  meeting  my  very  dear  old  friend 
Mrs.  Combe.  She  expressed  her  regret  that  she  had  on 
the  impulse  of  the  moment  separated  "  The  Light  of  the 
World "  from  the  other  pictures  which,  excepting  the 
portrait  of  Canon  Jenkins  to  be  given  to  Jesus  College, 
her  husband  had  always  destined  for  the  Taylor  Building  ; 
she  assured  me  she  had  made  provision  towards  building 
a  chapel  expressly  for  my  picture  of  "  The  Light  of  the 
World "  at  Keble  College,  which  hitherto  had  been  ill 
placed,  and  that  the  picture  would  be  certain  to  be  treated 
with  due  regard  under  the  protection  of  Mr.  Wilson,  the 
new  warden.  When  I  was  in  London  with  the  Magdalen 
Tower  picture  already  done  and  exhibited,  I  was  grieved 


- 


^ 


-I 


380         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

to  hear  that  this  saint-like  mother  of  all  the  poor  in  her 
districts  at  Oxford  had  been  called  away  from  them.  Her 
retained  collection  of  pictures  was  accepted  on  certain 
conditions  by  the  Committee  of  the  Taylor  Building, 
where  they  now  form  part  of  that  interesting  gallery. 

In  the  autumn  of  1892  my  wife  and  I  travelled  in 
Italy  and  Greece,  in  which  latter  country,  after  our  visit 
to  Athens  and  Olympia,  I  regretted  more  than  ever  that 
in  1856  the  steamer  on  which  I  embarked  at  Constanti- 
nople for  the  Piraeus  had  broken  down  in  the  Dardanelles, 
and  that  thus  I  had  then  been  prevented  from  visiting  the 
land  of  the  demigods.  Returned  to  Naples  we  took 
ship  to  Alexandria,  and  thence  journeyed  to  Cairo,  which 
I  found,  after  an  absence  of  thirty-nine  years,  so  changed 
that  in  the  morning,  on  sallying  forth  into  the  Usbequieh, 
I  should  have  been  unable  to  guess  that  it  was  part  of  the 
same  Cairo  that  I  had  known.  After  a  few  visits  to  the 
wonderful  Museum  and  surrounding  places  of  interest, 
we  went  up  the  Nile  as  far  as  Philas,  revelling  in  the 
inexhaustible  glories  of  the  temples  on  its  banks.  At  the 
end  of  March  we  made  our  way  to  Jaffa,  and  soon  found 
ourselves  once  more  at  the  spring  source  of  Christendom. 
When  in  1854  I  approached  Jerusalem  every  feature  in 
its  place  was  historic  ;  there  was  no  house  outside  the 
city,  but  now  the  whole  plateau  from  the  ridge  where 
formerly  Jerusalem  first  came  in  sight  was  covered  with 
an  assortment  of  stone  houses  and  cabins  of  every 
variety  of  ugliness,  villas  with  verandah  blinds  and  chimney 
pots,  sheds  of  corrugated  iron  and  factory  chimneys.  All 
the  dear  old  windmills  had  disappeared  or  were  in  ruins, 
and  it  was  with  difficulty  that  we  could  recognise  our  own 
house.  This  being  dilapidated,  we  took  up  our  abode  at 
the  hotel.  I  had  undertaken  to  make  designs  for  Sir 
Edwin  Arnold's  poem,  "  The  Light  of  the  World,"  and 
this  necessitated  many  excursions  to  collect  matter.  While 
progressing  with  this  task  the  Greek  Easter  was  at  hand, 
and  I  felt  it  would  be  a  pity  if  I,  who  had  seen  the  wild 
ceremony  of  the  miracle  of  the  Holy  Fire  so  often,  and 


xiv      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     381 

knew  the  difference  between  the  accidental  episodes  which 
occur,  and  those  which  are  fundamental,  should  not  take 
the  opportunity  of  perpetuating  for  future  generations  the 
astounding  scene  which  many  writers  have  so  vividly 
described.  I  obtained  a  position  in  the  gallery  with  the 
point  of  sight  most  commending  itself  for  the  picture, 
and  there  adding  to  a  store  of  sketches  made  on  previous 


THE    XI LK    POSTMAN. 


occasions,  I  drew  rapid  mementoes  of  the  moving  mass, 
and  employed  the  remainder  of  my  time  in  Jerusalem 
advancing  this  picture  on  canvas.  In  the  end  we  packed 
up  such  furniture  as  moth  and  thieves  had  kindly  left  us 
in  our  house,  and  abandoned  it  and  Syria  for  ever. 

On  my  return  I  devoted  myself  afresh  to  the  picture 
of  "  The  Lady  of  Shalott,"  which,  although  hindered  from 
time  to  time,  was  now  much  advanced,  and  alternately  I 
worked  at  "  The  Holy  Fire  "  picture,  for  which  I  was  glad 
to  get  Oriental  sitters  by  the  help  of  the  manager  of  the 


382  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  xiv 

Asiatic  Home  at  Limehouse  and  elsewhere.  Whilst  I 
was  painting  "  The  Holy  Fire,"  Mr.  J.  T.  Middlemore 
purchased  my  second  canvas  of  "The  Triumph  of  the 
Innocents,"  the  first  finished  of  the  two  pictures,  and 
larger  than  the  other  by  some  inches.  It  has  differences 
also  in  form  and  colour.  My  water-colour  drawing  of 
"  Christ  with  the  Rabbis  in  the  Temple  School "  also 
then  became  his  property.  The  first  he  destined  for  the 
permanent  Gallery  at  Birmingham  on  certain  conditions 
not  yet  fulfilled.  His  private  collection  contains  some 
smaller  pictures  of  mine,  including  the  replica  of  "  The 
Shadow  of  Death"  made  by  me  for  the  engraver's  use. 

Millais  had  written  to  me  about  the  year  1870  when  I 
was  in  Jerusalem,  that  the  "  first  volume  of  our  lives  "  had 
closed,  and  was  sealed  up,  and  that  now  "the  second 
volume  was  fast  advancing"  ;  at  the  period  I  have  now 
reached  the  third  volume  was  drawing  nigh  to  completion. 
The  ever-pleasant,  good-hearted  artist  and  man  of  letters, 
W.  B.  Scott,  had  been  taken  ill  at  Penkhill  Castle,  and 
had  gradually  grown  weaker  till  he  died,  22nd  November 
1890. 

But  to  return  to  surviving  friends  and  interests.  A 
banquet  was  given  to  art  and  literature  by  the  Lord 
Mayor  at  the  Mansion  House  ;  Millais,  representing  Sir 
F.  Leighton,  was  seated  at  the  high  table  next  to  the 

D  O 

host,  and  Madox  Brown  was  exactly  on  the  opposite  side 
of  the  table,  facing  Millais  and  a  bevy  of  other  Acade- 
micians. There  were  many  vacant  places  between  him 
and  me,  and  I  asked  him  to  come  and  take  the  chair  next 
to  me,  explaining  that  he  would  meet  friends  whose 
conversation  would  interest  him.  "Thank  you,"  he 
said,  "  I  would  rather  sit  here."  I  left  him  alone,  severely 
frowning  at  his  diplomaed  brothers  of  the  brush,  where  he 
remained  all  the  evening,  silent.  A  mutual  friend  told  me 
that  Brown  had  said  he  wished  particularly  to  draw  the 
attention  of  the  Academicians  to  the  fact,  that  although  he 
was  not  a  member  of  the  Academy,  he  had  been  con- 
spicuously honoured  by  the  civic  authorities  with  a  central 


384         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

place  at  the  high  table.  It  is  possible  that  many  of  the 
Academicians  went  home  without  benefiting  by  the  reproof 
that  dear  old  "Bruno  "  felt  to  be  so  necessary  for  them. 
He  had  now  lived  beyond  the  full  term  of  threescore  years 
and  ten,  and  his  days  had  become  sad.  His  only  son 
Oliver,  a  youth  of  great  promise  both  as  painter  and  writer, 
had  died,  and  this  bitterness  was  followed  soon  after  by 
the  death  of  his  wife.  While  still  struggling  manfully 
with  ever -continuing  money  difficulties,  he  could  not 
repress  complaint  to  a  friend  at  his  evil  fortune.  His 
health  was  fast  failing,  and  he  was  seven  hundred  pounds 
in  debt,  which  was  indeed  a  disgrace  to  his  country.  The 
profession  of  an  artist  is  an  expensive  one  ;  a  writer 
needs  but  his  pens,  ink  and  paper  with  a  little  space  to 
write  in,  but  an  artist  must  have  large  rooms  with 
many  appliances,  as  necessary  to  him  as  scaffolding  to 
a  builder  in  his  operations.  He  must  have  money  at  all 
stages  of  figure  subjects  to  pay  models  and  to  buy 
materials ;  during  the  probationary  period  of  his  career 
he  may  bear  many  discomforts  with  patience,  but  when 
he  has  the  full  responsibilities  of  life,  he  must  have  the 
opportunity  of  repose  away  from  sight  of  his  work,  that 
he  may  not  miss  refreshment  of  mind  and  body.  Brown 
had  always  been  most  studious,  industrious,  and  frugal, 
and  had  produced  many  noble  works  of  which  the  country 
must  eventually  be  proud ;  yet  here  he  was  in  his  last  years 
suffering  in  mind  as  though  he  had  been  a  profitless  ne'er- 
do-well.  A  few  of  his  friends  met  together  and  agreed  to 
raise  a  subscription  to  purchase  some  of  his  works  without 
his  knowledge,  and  the  contributions  had  accumulated 

D     ' 

although  without  public  appeal  to  a  sum  handsomely 
covering  his  liabilities.  Unfortunately,  just  as  all  was 
prepared  for  approaching  him,  a  newspaper  stated  the  fact 
in  its  gossip  column,  which  Brown  saw.  He  was  inflamed 
to  great  anger,  and  went  off  to  Frederick  Shields,  who 
was  acting  as  secretary  to  the  fund,  and  expressed  his 
indignation  at  the  insult  that  had  been  done  him  ;  he 
denounced  it  as  an  attempt  to  impose  charity  upon  him 


xiv      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      385 

and  left  the  house  in  hot  temper.  Shields  discreetly 
kept  silence  and  trusted  to  time  to  appease  the  artist's 
ruffled  feelings.  Within  a  week  Brown  communicated  to 
him  that  he  was  sorry  for  his  outbreak  of  displeasure, 
that  he  now  recognised  all  had  been  done  in  thoughtful 
kindness,  and  hoped  his  friends  would  not  think  him 
so  ungrateful  as  he  allowed  himself  to  appear  at  first. 
The  possessor  of  the  picture  of  "  Christ  washing  the 
Disciples'  Feet,"  who  had  offered  it  at  Christie's  a  few 
months  before,  and  had  bought  it  in  at  ^80,  consented  to 
take  for  it  a  portion  of  the  sum  in  hand,  and  the  Council 
of  the  National  Gallery  expressed  themselves  pleased  to 
receive  this  tardily  appreciated  and  yet  truly  noble  picture. 
Since  it  has  been  hung  in  the  Gallery  the  work  has  ever 
grown  in  reputation.  The  painter's  strength  was  now 
fast  failing,  he  took  up  his  daily  work  each  morning,  but 
increasing  weakness  interrupted  his  application,  and  on 
the  6th  of  October  1893  ne  breathed  his  last.  I  attended 
his  funeral  at  Finchley  Cemetery,  and  left  feeling  pro- 
foundly how  his  death  would  be  to  me  a  never-ending 
loss. 

I  return  to  my  own  affairs.  "  The  Holy  Fire " 
picture  was  approaching  completion.  I  designed  in  the 
pediment  of  the  frame  the  seven-branch  candlestick  as 
a  symbol  of  religious  truth  for  the  illumination  of  the 
people,  which  instead  of  giving  light  is  negligently  left  to 
emit  smoke,  thereby  spreading  darkness  and  concealing 
the  stars  of  Heaven.  On  the  base  I  designed  two  scrolls, 
upon  which  is  written  a  description  of  the  strange 
incidents  of  the  ceremony. 

Whether  the  celebration  is  regarded  with  shame  by 
the  advocates  of  unflinching  truth,  or  with  toleration 
as  suitable  to  the  ignorance  of  the  barbaric  pilgrims  for 
whom  it  is  retained,  or  with  adoration  by  those  who  believe 
the  fire  to  be  miraculous,  it  has  been  from  early  centuries 
regarded  as  of  singular  importance.  It  echoes  in  many 
respects  the  mad  excitement  of  the  Asiatic  mob  in  the 
temple  at  Ephesus.  It  has  been  described  by  many 

VOL.   II  2    C 


386         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

writers,  but  had  never  yet  been  painted  ;  its  dramatic, 
historic,  and  picturesque  importance  (which  last  it  is  now 
fast  losing  owing  to  the  growing  adoption  of  European 
costume)  strongly  recommended  it  to  me  for  artistic  repre- 
sentation, and  every  year  the  survival  of  the  early  record 
must  be  more  valued.  I  exhibited  this  picture  at  the  New 
Gallery,  and  afterwards  lent  it  to  Liverpool  ;  I  then  deter- 
mined to  retain  it  in  my  own  house  as  being  of  a  subject 
understood  in  its  importance  only  by  the  few. 

On  the  23rd  January  1896,  Lord  Leighton  died  after 
acute  suffering.  I  have  already  paid  my  tribute  to  his 
extraordinary  genius.  All  the  world  testifies  to  the 
brilliancy  of  his  qualities,  both  artistic  and  social.  Sir 
John  Everett  Millais  was  elected  as  President  to  the 
vacant  chair  on  the  2Oth  February  1896  ;  unhappily  he 
was  already  smitten  in  health,  and  it  was  difficult  to  believe, 
as  some  of  his  doctors  advised,  that  his  illness  was  but  a 
transient  one.  He  clung  to  hope,  and  went  on  working 
steadily  to  the  last.  Although  he  and  I  had  of  late  been 
moved  by  different  ambitions  since  the  days  of  our  youth- 
ful friendship,  we  had  always  been  able  to  confide  so 
thoroughly  in  one  another,  that  our  affection  could  well 
afford  the  strain  of  differing  views,  and  in  fact  these 
often  made  it  the  greater.  The  truth  of  his  doomed 
condition,  at  first  resolutely  ignored,  came  very  suddenly 
to  him,  and  then  day  by  day  he  stepped  down  into  the 
grave,  but  never  lost  his  composure  or  noble  personality. 
When  all  were  afflicted  to  hear  that  he  was  reduced  to 
speechlessness,  few  could  be  admitted  to  have  interview 
with  him.  The  Princess  Louise  was  amongst  those  who 
entered  to  mark  their  esteem  for  the  dying  President  ; 
when  the  visit  was  brought  to  an  end,  Her  Royal  Highness 
asked  if  it  were  possible  to  do  anything  that  would  give 
him  comfort.  He  thereupon  beckoned  for  the  slate,  and 
spurred  by  the  chivalric  feeling  towards  the  wife  whom  he 
had  championed  throughout  his  life,  whose  history  had 
been  too  generally  misunderstood,  he  pencilled  in  clear, 
unwavering  writing,  "  I  wish  Her  Majesty  the  Queen  would 


xiv      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     387 

see  my  wife."  The  Princess  was  a  gracious  agent,  and 
Queen  Victoria's  womanly  heart  was  touched  by  the 
message  ;  on  the  following  morning  Lady  Millais  was 
summoned  to  Windsor.  He  lived  only  a  few  days  more 
to  feel  the  gratification  of  this  recognition.  According 
to  his  direction  I  took  my  allotted  place  as  pall-bearer 
when  his  body  was  received  and  lowered  into  the  tomb  in 
St.  Paul's  Cathedral  on  the  i3th  August  1896. 

On  October  the  3rd  of  the  same  year  died  that  noble 
designer  and  poet,  William  Morris.  Although  he  had 
been  an  off-shoot  from  our  original  energy,  and  had  become 
a  most  sturdy  and  valued  friend,  his  artistic  activity  was 
only  indirectly  prompted  by  Millais  and  myself,  the 
immediate  impetus  having  come  through  Rossetti  after  he 
had  separated  himself  from  us.  This  reference  to  Morris 
makes  it  fitting  that  I  should  again  allude  to  his  remarkable 
companion,  Edward  Burne-Jones,  whose  original  impulse 
to  the  professional  practice  of  art  also  emanated  from 
Gabriel.  I  am  induced  to  claim  Burne-Jones'  strenuous- 
ness  in  the  rendering  of  his  designs  as  the  outcome,  though 
at  second  hand,  of  my  teaching  of  Rossetti  ;  perhaps  this 
helped  to  induce  more  than  casual  observers  to  confuse 
him  with  the  original  Pre  -  Raphaelites.  His  special 
manner,  however  it  will  already  have  been  under- 
stood, was  not  in  accordance  with  our  first  purpose. 
Burne-Jones'  work  so  admirably  fulfilled  his  aim  that 
all  were  justified  in  regarding  it  as  the  perfection  of 
the  modern  quattrocentists'  school  of  art,  but  his  nature 
as  revealed  in  his  art  would  give  the  world  only  a 
limited  appreciation  of  his  personal  spirit.  He  was  a 
man  of  exquisite  wit  and  humour,  enjoying  an  unsurpassed 
sense  of  the  ridiculous.  He  superadded  to  Rossetti's 
earlier  spirit  a  certain  classicalism  of  style  in  the  posing 
and  drawing  of  the  human  figure.  This  last  character 
was  mainly  encouraged  by  the  influence  of  Watts.  Gabriel 
was  alone  in  his  cultivation  of  the  sensuous  air,  reflected 
from  examples  of  later  Italian  masters,  an  air  which  was 
justified  to  many  by  its  consummate  character,  so  that  his 


388         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

prestige  still  held  the  field,  and  he  was  accepted  as  leader 
in  the  Dantesque  spirit  of  sadness,  never  breaking  into 
cheering  strain. 

Certain  generous  friends  in  1900  subscribed  to  have 
my  portrait  painted  by  Sir  William  Richmond,  R.A.,  who, 
by  acceptance  of  the  commission,  became  the  largest  con- 
tributor. They  presented  me  with  this,  together  with  an 
illustrated  address  written  by  Leslie  Stephen,  and  a  piece 
of  plate  bearing  a  generous  inscription,  both  of  which 
gratified  me  deeply. 

The  Times,  in  reference  to  this  tribute,  published  a 
leading  article  acknowledging  my  claim  to  the  honour 
done  me.  It  was  the  same  liberal  spirit  in  which  it 
had  admitted  Ruskin's  defence  of  us  in  1851,  and  my 
pleadings  against  the  denunciation  of  Woolner  by  Jacob 
Omnium. 

Among  the  distinguished  artists  who  have  acknowledged 
the  direct  influence  of  Pre-Raphaelitism  upon  them,  Sir 
William  Richmond  avows  its  benefit  at  an  early  period.1 
G.  F.  Watts  expressed  recognition  of  the  value  of  our 
reform  in  his  evidence  before  the  Royal  Commission  in 
1 863,2  and,  as  remarked  already,  he  testified  to  his  sympathy 
with  our  principles  in  the  manner  of  the  portraits  exhibited 
in  1859  under  the  name  of  F.  W.  George,  as  well  as  in 
many  private  and  appreciative  confidences  to  myself. 
As  a  final  reminiscence  of  this  great  artist  I  have  to  add 
that  in  his  later  days  he  had  built  himself  a  country  house 
and  studio  near  Guildford.  He  named  it  "  Limner's 
Lease."  Till  the  spring  of  1904  his  gallery  in  Kensington 
was  open  to  the  public  on  stated  days,  but  recently  he  had 
carried  out  a  purpose  of  sending  the  greater  number  of 
the  works  to  his  country  house,  where  he  had  built  a 
large  gallery  for  the  satisfaction  of  all  comers  from  neigh- 
bouring towns.  Only  a  few  paintings  remained  at  Little 
Holland  House,  Melbury  Road. 

1  "  Ruskin  as  I  Knew  Him,1'  by  Sir  William  Richmond,  in  St.  George. 

2  ';  The  only  definite  reform  movement  (which  the  Pre-Raphaelite  school 
may  be  called)  was  certainly  not  stimulated  by  the  Royal  Academy,  and  even 
met  with  opposition  from  it." 


xiv      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      389 

One  morning  when  I  called  I  found  that  house  in 
impromptu  festal  state,  for  the  rustic  workers  in  wood- 
carving  and  pottery  who  had  been  trained  in  the  school 
founded  by  Mrs.  Watts  had  come  to  London  to  see  the 
exhibitions,  and  the  guests  were  just  sitting  down  in  the 
dismantled  gallery  to  a  substantial  repast.  After  exchanging 
some  words  with  the  young  men  and  lads,  as  I  left  the 
studio  I  fondly  glanced  at  the  beautiful  picture  of  "  Echo  " 
still  upon  the  wall,  which  at  the  Westminster  Hall  com- 
petition was  the  first  of  Watts'  paintings  I  had  ever 
seen.  I  ascended  with  the  host  to  the  room  where  the 
family  meal  was  laid.  He  was  quite  his  own  gentle 
and  eager  self  in  all  but  a  slight  deafness  left  in  spite  of 
benefit  conferred  by  an  electric  treatment.  He  expressed 
his  great  desire  for  the  success  of  the  craft  industry, 
whose  workers  I  had  just  seen,  and  whose  character  he 
highly  approved.  He  regarded  the  effort  as  a  means  in 
one  small  degree  to  stem  the  tide  of  idleness,  of  want  of 
pride  in  work,  and  indeed,  of  that  combination  among 
workmen  to  avoid  the  full  amount  of  application  which 
honest  pride  required  of  them  in  the  execution  of  their 
daily  tasks,  and  which  would  be  in  the  long  run  profitable 
to  themselves.  He  avowed  that  he  was  depressed  at  the 
prospect  to  our  country,  and  indeed  to  the  world  at  large, 
by  the  inordinate  indulgence  of  all  classes  in  idle  pleasure, 
which  led  men  to  schemes  for  acquiring  money  with  in- 
difference as  to  who  might  be  ruined  in  the  struggle  ;  he 
deplored  the  indulgence  in  gambling  of  every  kind,  so  rife 
from  high  to  low,  as  leading  to  degraded  ideas  of  honour 
which  could  only  disintegrate  any  nation.  "  We  see,"  he 
said,  "  with  what  avidity  people  rush  to  races  of  all  sorts. 
In  the  morning  the  roads  are  crowded  with  men  who 
ought  to  be  at  their  work,  all  striving  to  arrive  first  at  the 
place  of  contest,  not  for  interest  in  the  healthy  competi- 
tion itself,  but  for  the  sake  of  betting  recorded  in  their 
books  as  they  go  along.  Even  little  messenger  boys  in 
the  street  can  be  seen  writing  down  their  stakes,  and 
snatching  in  the  afternoon  at  the  first  halfpenny  paper 


390         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

recommended  as  giving  'All  the  winners.'  The  people 
thus  use  their  School  Board  education  for  short-sighted 
cunning  in  place  of  profitable  labour,  which  alone  increases 
the  wealth  of  a  nation.  Past  savings,  instead  of  being 
augmented,  are  rapidly  passing  from  the  pockets  of  one 
man  to  those  of  another,  leaving  the  wear  and  tear  of 
daily  consumption  ever  decreasing  the  world's  store  of 
wealth  needful  for  further  enterprise,  so  that  continually 
the  number  of  unemployed  and  unemployable  becomes 
more  numerous.  I  have  myself  always  been  in  favour  of 
extending  privileges  to  working  men,  but  they  are  no 
longer  working  men.  I  know  instances  of  many  quite 
ridiculing  the  idea  of  taking  delight  in  their  work,  and 
performing  it  gladly  as  they  used  to  do.  Now  bricklayers 
and  carpenters  accomplish  only  a  third  of  a  day's  work, 
defending  their  sloth  with  the  statement  that  the  Union 
would  not  allow  them  to  do  more."  In  confirmation  of 
his  view  I  instanced  the  case  of  a  paper-hanger  who,  when 
asked  in  the  evening  why  he  had  dawdled  away  his  day, 
confessed  that  he  could  have  done  four  times  the  quantity 
were  it  not  for  the  rules  forbidding  him,  and  of  a  carpenter 
engaged  on  a  Saturday  morning  in  putting  in  a  screw 
who,  on  hearing  the  clock  strike  twelve,  put  down  his 
screw-driver,  declaring  that  his  time  for  work  was  up  !  and 
he  should  do  no  more,  however  urgent  the  job  might  be. 
Watts  lamented  these  practices,  supported  by  the  excuse 
that  they  increase  the  demand  for  work,  while  in  fact 
they  prevent  many  who  would  give  employment  from 
putting  their  plans  in  hand.  "  We  all  know,"  he  said, 
"  of  native  products  being  driven  out  of  the  market  by 
much  cheaper  and  better  work  from  abroad,  and  we  learn 
of  manufacturers  removing  to  Belgium  and  Germany  to 
escape  the  tyranny  of  idleness.  I  am  seriously  distressed 
about  the  future  of  England."  He  was  told  on  many 
hands  that  the  old-fashioned  and  affectionate  house- 
servant  of  former  days  had  almost  disappeared,  and  he 
added  :  "  With  stories  such  as  one  I  heard,  of  a  young 
lady  who  gave  up  charitable  work  to  devote  herself  all 


xiv     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      391 

day  to  the  playing  of  '  Bridge,'  by  which  she  gained  some 
hundreds  increase  to  her  family  allowance,  it  is  natural 
that  domestic  servants  should  also  become  short-sighted 
and  irresponsible.  As  artists  we  should  cut  a  sorry 
figure  if  we  put  down  our  brushes  at  any  allotted 
hour.  One  lesson  in  our  art  is  the  example  it  gives 
of  strenuous  effort  and  perseverance  ;  but  indeed,  there 
are  now  artists  both  in  painting  and  sculpture,  whose 
works  at  modern  exhibitions  make  their  authors  appear 
to  be  actuated  by  the  prevalent  spirit  of  shirking  their 
labour  instead  of  showing  sign  of  determination  to  over- 
come difficulties  of  approach  to  perfection.  Protection 
may  or  may  not  be  wise,  I  do  not  know,  but  I  am  sure 
that  the  real  evil  to  England  at  this  time  is  the  dis- 
position to  evade  labour,  and,  now  that  short-sighted 
selfishness  is  so  rampant,  I  do  not  see  how  the  evil  will 
be  eradicated.  For  my  part  it  is  lamentable  to  think 
that  the  course  of  folly  dooms  a  nation,  glorious  as 
England,  to  decay.  I  do  not  fail  to  recognise  that  England 
has  in  previous  times  recovered  from  threatenings  of 
disaster,  but  we  want  candid  and  courageous  leaders 
to  speak  openly  of  the  real  danger  that  threatens  the 
country." 

It  was  an  unusual  thing  for  Watts  to  express  himself 
so  sadly.  I  had  to  break  away  abruptly,  hoping  that  on 
another  visit  we  could  resume  the  talk  with  happier  out- 
look, but  in  a  few  days  he  caught  a  chill,  and  grew  feverish 
and  increasingly  weak,  with  intervals  of  flickering  hope  to 
his  devoted  household.  In  a  glorious  peace  he  died  on  the 
ist  July  1904. 

The  history  of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  reform  movement 
has  now  been  patiently  chronicled,  and  I  would  gladly 
close  the  story,  but  there  are  some  distortions  of  truth 
still  left  undestroyed,  and  these  demand  the  franker  atten- 
tion, because  they  are  direct  survivals  of  those  unfair 
statements  which  ignorantly  falsified  our  principles  in  the 
beginning. 

It  has  been  seen   that  in  the  fifties  there  was  a  large 


392         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

conversion  of  younger  artists  to  our  reform,  and  that  even 
several  equals  and  elders  were  influenced  by  it  to  some 
degree.  It  were  wearisome  to  do  more  than  insist  upon 
this  fact  as  proof  that  our  immediate  influence  was  at  once 
to  introduce  a  measure  of  new  life  into  the  contemporary 
art  of  our  youth.  Who  can  say  to  what  lengths  the 
invigorating  purification  might  not  have  extended  had 
we  been  allowed  a  reasonably  fair  field  for  our  energies  r 
The  savage  prejudice  against  our  work  not  alone  nearly 
destroyed  ourselves,  but  hampered  and  hindered  the  pro- 
gress of  the  general  conversion  we  were  attempting.  As 
it  was,  we  did  not  suffer  our  martyrdom  in  vain.  Had 
we  not  continued  faithful  to  our  standard,  not  only  should 
we  have  been  proved  too  weak  for  our  special  effort,  but 
artists,  such  as  Leighton,  F.  Walker,  Mason,  and  others 
too  numerous  to  mention,  stirred  by  vigorous  blood 
and  a  high  enthusiasm  to  do  battle  in  other  ways  with  evil 
fashions  in  vogue,  would  all  have  been  in  danger  of  defeat. 
The  evidence  of  our  influence  upon  our  early  converts, 
with  the  fact  of  the  check  in  their  discipleship  received 
from  the  enemies  of  our  school,  need  not  here  be  enlarged 
upon,  but  the  degree  of  destruction  which  the  inimical 
spirit  caused  even  at  the  fountain-head  must  not  go 
unrecorded.  When  the  works  of  Millais  were  collected 
at  the  Grosvenor  Gallery,  an  ardent  appreciator  of  his 
genius,  Lady  Constance  Leslie,  went  early  in  the  day  to 
the  exhibition.  Ascending  the  stairs,  she  encountered  the 
painter  going  out,  with  head  bowed  down.  As  she 
accosted  him,  and  he  looked  up,  she  saw  tears  in  his  eyes. 
"  Ah,  dear  Lady  Constance,"  he  said,  "  you  see  me 
unmanned.  Well,  I'm  not  ashamed  of  avowing  that  in 
looking  at  my  earliest  pictures  I  have  been  overcome  with 
chagrin  that  I  so  far  failed  in  my  maturity  to  fulfil  the 
full  forecast  of  my  youth."  He  had  cause  to  feel  this 
disappointment,  but  the  blame  can  scarcely  be  laid  at  his 
door  by  any  one  who  has  traced  with  attention  the  fury 
directed  against  us.  In  these  days,  it  is  true,  the 
country  raises  its  voice  aloud  to  declare  an  interest  in  art, 


xiv      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      393 

in    foreign    art    particularly,    but    it    fails    to    show    any 
adequate  idea  of  exalting  and  cherishing  native  art. 

In  England  in  the  eighteenth  century  only  portraitists 
could  get  a  living.  Wilson  would  have  died  a  pauper  had 
he  not  succeeded  his  brother  in  the  family  inheritance. 
Had  Wilkie,  Constable,  Stothard,  Turner,  been  natives  of 
any  other  country,  the  Government  would  have  taken 
some  pains  to  gain  examples  of  their  work  for  the  nation. 
While  they  were  working,  the  rich  men  of  England 
bought  few  but  old  pictures,  and  many  native  artists 
gained  their  bread  only  by  restoring  and  repainting  these. 
Turner,  by  acceptance  of  very  modest  prices  to  begin 
with,  and  the  strictest  economy  in  bachelor  life,  slowly 
accumulated  wealth,  but  he  is  mostly  known  to  the  world 
by  the  wonderful  paintings  which  came  back  from  exhi- 
bitions unsold,  and  which  were  left  by  him  to  the  nation. 
Before  the  end  of  his  time,  the  tendency  to  establish 
facilities  and  rewards  to  tempt  youths  to  become  artists  had 
scarcely  declared  itself.  But  the  fashion  of  encouragement 
to  studentship  has  been  going  on  since  then  at  a  compound 
ratio,  and  by  it  people  are  induced  to  suppose  that 
nothing  more  can  be  desired  to  establish  England's  repute 
as  artistic,  than  this  universal  educational  activity.  The 
result  is  that  many  youths  enter  the  career  who  by  natural 
inclination  would  never  have  thought  of  it,  who  are  in 
fact  not  endowed  for  the  pursuit,  and  therefore  can  never 
win  lasting  distinction  either  for  themselves  or  for  their 
country,  but  will  rather  deprive  better  men  of  their  just 
opportunities. 

That  Millais  was  at  a  time  tempted  more  or  less  to 
meet  the  public  taste,  to  forget  his  higher  aspirations,  and 
to  make  his  Pegasus  take  the  yoke  to  draw  an  unworthy 
load,  has  been  held  up  to  his  condemnation  ;  while 
during  his  bitter  struggle,  any  foreign  artist  or  other 
mere  product  of  a  school,  who  came  forward  with  super- 
ficial proficiency  was  lauded  and  patronised  out  of  all 
measure.  The  modern  maxim  that  art  is  of  no  nation- 
ality and  of  no  race,  that  it  is,  in  fact,  of  one  character  and 


394         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

universal,  is  an  attempt  to  justify  fashion.  No  less  true 
statement  was  ever  made.  Art  has  ever  been  the  tacit 
expression  of  a  nation's  character.  Egyptian  art  exactly 
bespoke  its  nationality,  the  Greek  genius  made  a  new 

image  to  enshrine  its  own  soul.     Latin  art,  again,  evolved  a 

f         f  •  i 

fresh  form  to  express  its  powerful  individuality  ;  so  it  was 

with  the  Italians,  Germans,  Dutch,  the  ancient  French, 
the  Spanish,  the  English,  and  all  other  nations  of  the 
earth.  French  art  has  ever  been,  and  must  be,  different 
in  its  spirit  to  that  which  has  given  life  to  English  art. 
Certainly,  while  the  confusion  of  one  with  the  other  may 
enchant  the  thoughtless  by  its  superficial  dexterity,  it  would 
develop  a  bastard  breed  of  irresponsibility  that  would  not 
deserve  the  name  of  art  at  all. 

While  Millais  was  painting  those  exquisite  pictures 
"  L'Enfant  du  Regiment,"  "  The  Blind  Girl,"  "  Ariel,"  and 
"  The  Fireman,"  for  which  at  the  most  he  was  barely 
rewarded  sufficiently  to  meet  the  expenses  of  new  paint- 
ings, foreign  pictures  with  showy  attractions  were  hailed 
with  laudation,  which  ensured  their  sale  in  England  at 
extravagant  prices.  I  must  again  call  attention  to  the 
still  more  excessive  case  of  contempt  for  native  genius  in 
the  fortune,  or  rather  misfortune,  of  Ford  Madox  Brown. 
When  in  his  last  days  he  was  receiving  only  three  hundred 
a  year  for  his  works  in  the  Manchester  Town  Hall,  and 
was  crippled  on  the  small  pittance  left  after  paying  his 
expenses,  the  press  was  praising  the  annual  commonplaces, 
and  extolling  to  the  skies  as  miraculous  the  very  mundane 
productions  of  his  unworthy  compeers  from  abroad  :  the 
extravagant  glorification,  to  wit,  which  greeted  Meissonier's 
microscopic  representation  of  two  dull  old  gentlemen 
playing  chess,  or  the  picture  representing  nothing  more 
ennobling  than  a  sign-painter  painting  his  board,  or  again, 
a  draughtsman  sketching  in  a  barrack  yard  with  a  crowd 
of  dull  onlookers,  or,  as  the  highest  flight  of  military 
interest,  Napoleon  on  his  white  horse  ;  by  which  the 
French  artist  was  finally  able  to  obtain  from  English 
millionaires  one  thousand  guineas  for  each  inch  of  his  panel, 


xiv      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      395 

the  while  no  French  millionaire  would  buy  the  works  of 
any  English  painter.  Gustave  Dore  at  the  same  time, 
having  exhibited  in  London  enormous  drop  scenes  illus- 
trating sacred  story,  was  praised  by  English  critics  in 
columns  of  rapturous  text,  by  which,  while  corrupting  the 
taste  of  our  nation,  he  became  so  popular  that  he  gained 
a  handsome  fortune  from  England  in  a  few  years,  whilst 
Brown  was  reduced  to  penury.  What  can  be  the  wisdom 
in  multiplying  students  if,  when  one  in  a  thousand  of 
these  becomes  a  great  artist,  the  opportunities  that  he 
ought  to  have  for  doing  justice  to  his  powers  are 
immediately  given  to  inferior  foreign  artists  in  preference 
to  him,  and  when  eventually  his  life  is  reviewed,  his 
memory  is  charged  with  doing  unworthy  work,  which  he 
had  no  choice  but  to  do  in  order  to  live.  There  need  be 
no  objection  to  the  patronage  of  foreign  artists  of  worth 
if  their  countries  reciprocate  the  enthusiasm,  or  if  enough 
patronage  exists  at  home  first  to  do  justice  to  the  exalted 
spirit  in  true  English  art.  Not  only  is  this  not  the  case, 
but  when  evidence  is  given  that  English  artists  sometimes 
winced  under  the  stinted  encouragement  of  timorous 
buyers,  their  impatience  under  the  failure  of  recognition 
is  severely  criticised.  Burke  says  that  in  the  long-run 
"men  will  do  what  it  is  to  their  interest  to  do."  When 
all  the  pitfalls  in  the  way  of  an  ardent-minded  artist  have 
been  avoided,  and  he  has  come  to  the  front,  tried  and 
proved  ready  to  do  the  country  honourable  service,  if  then 
he  is  put  aside  contemptuously,  and  the  services  of  mere 
pretenders  are  taken  in  preference  to  his,  the  blind  course 
is  as  detrimental  to  the  country  as  to  the  artist.  From 
the  manner  in  which  an  artist  is  discussed  by  the  elegant 
world,  it  is  concluded  that  he  can  do  ideal  work  without 
considering  whether  there  is  a  patron  waiting  for  it  or 
not.  The  old  masters,  when  once  their  abilities  had  been 
proved  in  early  manhood,  had  no  difficulty  so  great  as 
that  of  deciding  for  what  patron  they  should  labour, 
whether  for  Pope,  King,  Church,  monastery,  muni- 
cipality, or  merchant  prince.  How  enviable  was  their 


396  PRE-RAPHAELITISM  CH.  xiv 

lot !  How  can  it  be  wondered  at  that  they  left  so  many 
works  in  comparison  with  modern  artists  ?  Turner  never 
had  a  public  commission  to  execute  in  his  life,  neither 
was  Millais  ever  employed  on  any  public  building  either 
by  Government  or  by  ecclesiastics.  Perhaps  in  this  con- 
nection I  ought  to  regard  it  as  a  compliment  that  I  also 
was  never  engaged  on  any  public  work. 

Notwithstanding  Millais'  occasional  occupation  upon 
unworthy  themes,  his  fastidious  eye  and  poetic  taste  were 
still  intact,  and  his  original  conscientious  sense  instinctively 
asserted  itself  in  work  triumphant  at  all  points,  so  that 
England  had  no  excuse  for  failing  to  see  the  rareness  of 
the  glory  he  was  prepared  to  achieve  for  her.  Whenever 
he  was  engaged  in  painting  a  beautiful  woman  or  a  child's 
head,  his  best  powers  came  into  action,  and  no  painter  of 
any  nation  or  time  surpassed  him  in  delicacy  of  expres- 
sion or  in  variety  of  unaffected  charm.  This  makes  the 
extravagant  appreciation  of  Meissonier  the  more  ridiculous, 
for  the  French  artist  could  not  paint  a  woman  at  all. 
Millais'  was  the  frank  English  beauty  typified  by  Gains- 
borough, sometimes  with  fuller  solidity  of  modelling, 
and  with  often  the  fancy  of  Reynolds  or  Romney  in 
addition.  His  men's  portraits  at  times  reached  in  excel- 
lence the  best  of  those  by  the  Venetian  painters,  or  those 
of  the  great  Dutch  School.  It  is  said  by  mercenary 
arbiters  of  the  day  that  his  works  do  not  maintain  the 
highest  prices  at  Christie's.  The  list  of  prices  for  various 
years  is  an  interesting  addition  to  artistic  information,  and 
must  be  of  practical  importance  for  picture-dealers  ;  but 
surely,  if  works  of  art  were  so  judged,  their  true  value 
would  finally  be  ruled  by  the  purse  of  fashion,  and  high 
aspirations  would  be  driven  from  the  field  ;  Blake  at  one 
period  would  have  been  stamped  as  an  imbecile,  and 
Flaxman  and  Stothard  little  better,  Constable  and  every 
man  of  original  inspiration  us  a  perverse  fool. 

Fluctuations  in  the  monetary  value  of  pictures  are  but 
ephemeral,  and  do  not  touch-  their  artistic  value  in  the 
remotest  degree.  At  Rogers's  sale  a  "  Madonna  and  Child  " 


THK    PEARL 


398         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

of  a  more  mature  period  than  the  Madonna  "  di  Gran 
Duca,"  and  of  equal  beauty,  was  sold  to  Mr.  Appleton, 
the  brother-in-law  of  Longfellow,  for  ^500.  No  connois- 
seur could  doubt  that  this  picture  is  more  precious  than 
the  Ansidei  Madonna,  bought  for  ^70,000.  Certainly, 
if  the  possessor  of  Mr.  Appleton's  Raphael  sent  it  into 
the  market  now,  it  would  fetch  a  proportionate  price. 
I  can  myself  remember  when  Raphael's  picture  of  "  Apollo 
and  Marsyas,"  now  in  the  Louvre,  was  offered  for  sale  by 
Morris  Moore  in  London  for  ^400,  and  for  twenty  years 
no  one  would  believe  in  its  value.  After  his  death  it  was 
purchased  from  the  widow  by  the  French  Minister  of  Fine 
Arts,  and  now  it  would  fetch  thousands.  Examples  of 
the  blunderings  of  the  picture  market  might  be  cited  with- 
out end.  Had  the  prevailing  taste  always  to  be  deferred  to, 
we  in  our  early  days  should  at  once  have  abandoned  any  idea 
of  reform  in  art,  but  instead  we  should  have  imitated  Frost, 
Howard,  or  Etty,  and  so  subscribe  to  the  dealers'  existing 
standard.  The  right  use  of  the  auction  list  is  not  to  settle 
the  real  value  of  pictures,  but  the  uprising  or  downfalling 
of  the  taste  of  the  buyer.  I  am  told  that  Millais'  tran- 
scendent picture  of  "  The  Three  Sisters,"  when  last  under 
the  hammer,  was  knocked  down  for  about  /~6oo,  while 
paintings  no  more  exquisite,  and  certainly  not  so  perfect 
in  condition,  by  the  three  great  portraitists  of  the  end  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  realised  sums  from  ten  to  thirty 
thousand  guineas.  Time  has  always  heretofore  retrieved 
the  fallen  fortunes  of  supreme  works.  It  has  also  some- 
times pulled  down  meretricious  paintings  set  in  high  place 
by  a  fashionable  coterie.  It  would  be  unaccountable  if 
years  did  not  bring  the  price  list  for  such  pictures  as  that 
of  "  The  Three  Sisters  "  to  accord  with  the  valuation  set  by 
just  discrimination  upon  all  supreme  works. 

Many  of  Millais'  landscapes,  painted  instead  of  ill-paid 
imaginative  compositions,  were  of  the  highest  pictorial 
order,  and  will  take  their  places  in  the  slow-growing  general 
mind  as  among  the  glories  of  British  art.  In  a  later 
passage  concerning  particular  pictures  it  will  be  proved 


xiv      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      399 

how  triumphant  in  the  end  he  emerged  from  the  routine 
followed  to  meet  vulgar  taste  by  giving  elevation  to  the 
subjects  of  his  own  choice.  Ford  Madox  Brown's  dis- 
criminating remarks  upon  the  picture  of  "  Lorenzo  and 
Isabella,"  when  he  came  fresh  from  the  studio  where  it 
was  standing  just  finished  upon  the  easel,  were  so  just 
and  appreciative  even  as  briefly  reported  by  me,  and 
my  admiration  of  it  expressed  from  time  to  time  in  the 
foregoing  pages  is  so  great  that  I  need  not  here  enlarge 
upon  its  merits,  but  I  must  dwell  somewhat  upon  his 
succeeding  picture  of  "  Ferdinand  lured  by  Ariel."  We 
must  first  put  ourselves  back  to  the  date  when  it  was 
painted.  The  exhibition  world  was  full  of  pictures  of 
fairies  and  attendant  spirits,  and  without  exception  we 
may  see  that  these  were  all  conceived  as  graceful  human 
pigmies.  Millais,  at  one  burst,  treated  them  as  elfin 
creatures,  strange  shapes  such  as  might  lurk  away  in  the 
shady  groves  and  be  blown  about  over  the  surface  of  a 
mere,  making  the  wanderer  wonder  whether  the  sounds 
they  made  were  anything  more  than  the  figments  of  his 
own  brain.  Millais'  was  the  poetic  imagination  not  to  be 
passed  over  unnoted,  although  its  originality  was  hastily 
taken  by  ordinary  minds  as  the  point  on  which  to  condemn 
it.  The  landscape  of  "The  Woodman's  Daughter, "painted 
in  1850,  might  not  be  so  conclusive  in  the  testimony  it 
offers  of  a  new  evangel,  but  the  charms  throughout  the 
background  of  the  "  Ophelia,"  and  the  pathetic  grace  of 
the  love-wrapt  maiden,  are  enough  to  proclaim  that  not 
in  one  feature  alone,  but  in  the  whole  picture,  a  new  art 
was  born.  Certain  theorists  say  that  it  is  not  the 
province  of  art  to  deal  with  Nature  in  detail,  that  it 
should  not  realise,  but  only  suggest.  This  dictum  may 
have  its  honest  place  when  referring  to  pictures  demand- 
ing abstract  treatment,  but  it  is  often  made  the  defence 
for  poor  and  empty  attempts,  and  is  sadly  out  of  place 
in  the  judgment  of  Millais'  treatment  of  the  new  prob- 
lems which  we  had  set  ourselves  to  solve.  The  fault 
lies  in  making  a  canon  only  exceptionally  justified,  into 


400         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

the  binding  law  of  an  Inquisition.  It  is  not  my  purpose 
to  deny  that  previous  landscape  art  had  been  both 
admirable  and  appropriate  to  the  end  it  had  in  view,  but 
it  had  not  dealt  with  this  particular  aspect  of  Nature, 
or,  when  it  had  essayed  anything  of  the  kind,  it  had 
avoided  the  difficulties  which  we  grappled  with  and 
conquered.  The  assumption  that  what  we  did  was  mere 
prosaic  imitation,  within  the  range  of  common  workmen, 
is  best  met  by  comparing  our  work  with  that  of  some 
dull  imitators  who  were  destitute  of  poetic  discrimination. 
Certain  examples  of  these  attempts,  prominent  at  the  time, 
have  now  disappeared.  In  some  later  prosaic  transcripts 
of  Nature  an  effort  was  made  to  lead  the  world  to  think 
them  more  exact  than  ours,  the  outlines  of  small  forms 
being  trivially  and  mathematically  cut  out.  We  saw 
that  in  Nature  contours  are  found  and  lost,  and  what  in 
one  point  is  trenchant,  in  another  melts  its  form  into  dazzling 
light  or  untraceable  gloom  ;  that  there  is  infinite  delight  to 
the  mind  in  playing  upon  the  changes  between  one  extreme 
characteristic  and  another.  It  was  in  such  subtle  observa- 
tions and  renderings  that  Millais  could  afford  to  smile 
at  his  adverse  critics  when  they  said  that  the  profound 
following  out  of  Nature  was  fatal  to  poetry.  Adherents  to 
our  reform  in  the  true  spirit  and  not  in  the  dead  letter 
have  proved  that  poetry  in  painting  is  not  destroyed  by 
the  close  pursuit  of  Nature's  beauty.  My  assertion  that 
Millais'  picture  of  "  Ophelia  "  was  the  exponent  of  a  new 
revelation  in  art  is  no  over-statement  ;  that  it  was  as 
inexhaustible  in  its  worth  as  all  good  art  is,  is  also 
undeniable.  The  background  of  "  The  Huguenot  "  is  of 
a  much  simpler  kind,  but  let  men  who  want  to  understand 
the  truth  compare  the  painting  of  the  bricks  and  mortar 
of  this  picture  with  the  brick  wall  in  the  picture  of  "  The 
Barrack  Yard  "  by  Meissonier  (who  is  regarded  as  a  painter 
of  miraculous  finish),  and  they  will  soon  be  able  to  estimate 
the  difference  between  the  perception  of  infinite  variety 
and  mere  regard  for  geometrical  precision.  The  next 
picture,  "The  Blind  Girl,"  may  convince  any  one  of  the 


xiv      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      401 

painter's  deep  and  pathetic  sense,  which  enabled  him  to 
interpret  with  keen  pity,  direct  from  his  own  observations, 
the  lot  of  those  stricken  ones  whose  deprivations  rebuke 
our  own  dumbness  in  thanksgiving.  "The  Fireman"  is 
the  recognition  of  true  heroism  by  an  original  mind,  and 
is  of  no  transient  interest  only. 

Millais'  nature  never  led  him  to  draw  inspiration  from 
the  poetic  treatment  of  others.  The  charms  of  a  scene 
before  him  overmastered  for  him  all  conditions  of  his  subject, 
which  he  would  no  longer  allow  to  burden  him.  For  him, 
as  he  had  said  early  in  life,  Nature  was  always  so  much 
better  than  anything  he  could  substitute,  that  he  never 
hesitated  to  follow  her  if  the  cardinal  idea  was  not 
threatened  by  so  doing.  It  was  the  abuse  levelled  at 
"  Sir  Isumbras  "  that  drove  him  to  despair  of  appreciation 
tor  work  that  made  no  compromise  with  the  taste  of  the 
day.  For  seven  or  eight  years  he  had  struggled  un- 
flinchingly for  his  higher  unalloyed  purpose.  Was  it  to 
be  wondered  at  that  at  this  point  he  was  at  times  tempted 
to  bend  to  the  counter  claim  of  his  home  interests  ?  yet 
let  it  be  remembered  he  was  never  hopelessly  enthralled 
by  the  worldly  meaning  of  duty.  In  his  picture  from 
Keats's  poem  of  Madelene  disrobing  on  the  Eve  of  St. 
Agnes,  the  main  interest  to  him  was  in  the  sweetness 
of  an  innocent  damsel,  seen  only  by  the  rays  of  Diana's 
orb  piercing  through  the  window,  and  contrasting  with 
the  rich  gloom  of  a  ghostly  bedchamber  which  entangled 
the  mind  with  its  mysterious  depths.  To  him  propriety 
of  costume  and  the  feudal  conditions  expressed  by  the 
poet  were  of  small  account.  He  would  have  had  to  make 
research  that  was  hateful  to  him  for  such  details,  and  when 
he  had  acquired  his  authorities  there  would  have  been  the 
toil  of  putting  together  the  piecemeal  parts  without  seeing 
the  while  the  effect  which  they  would  produce.  Begin- 
ning his  painting  with  the  young  girl  before  him,  there 
was  as  she  stood  an  element  of  maidenly  reserve  that  no 
undress  of  a  Norman  lady  would  have  given  so  persuasively 
in  his  hands  ;  and  then  why  trouble  to  find  out  the  exact 

VOL.    II  2    D 


402         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

character  of  a  Gothic  sleeping  couch,  he  argued,  when  a 
heavy  four-post  bedstead  had  enough  associations  of 
romance  ?  One  detail  in  the  poem  he  did  indeed  put  to 
the  test  was  the  poet's  description  of  the  colour  thrown 
by  the  moonlight  through  the  stained  casement  :— 

As  down  she  knelt  for  heaven's  grace  and  boon 
Rose  bloom  fell  on  her  hands  together  prest, 
And  on  her  silver  cross,  soft  amethyst, 
And  in  her  hair  a  glory,  like  a  Saint. 

On  trial  he  found  the  diverse  hues  transmitted  by  the 
moon  were  not  strong  enough  to  be  distinguished,  and 
so  the  painter  was  freed  from  attention  to  the  poet's  "  rose 
bloom."  The  projected  shadows  of  his  square  window 
frames  were  unflinchingly  copied  from  a  room  at  Knole, 
where  he  worked  during  some  nights  for  the  midnight 
effect,  introducing,  as  it  happened  to  be  there,  a  green 
baize  door  and  all  the  flooring  of  the  room  as  he  found  it  ! 
This  was  his  original  instinct ;  let  us  not  cavil  at  a  picture 
so  enthralling.  His  later  picture,  "  A  Scotch  Idyll,"  will 
prove  that  to  the  end  he  never  lost  his  inventive  faculty, 
that  indeed  he  was  ever  able  to  command  appropriate 
treatment,  to  give  enduring  enchantment  to  a  simple 
idea. 

Of  English  race  as  he  was,  living  in  Scotland,  and 
married  to  one  of  her  daughters,  he  felt  the  settled  happi- 
ness which  the  union  of  the  two  races  had  brought  about. 
His  imaginary  incident  is  of  two  youthful  musicians  in 
the  English  army  after  the  battle  of  Culloden  who  have 
drawn  to  their  place  ot  encampment  three  Highland 
lasses.  One  boy  is  thrilling  them  by  the  strains  of 
his  flute,  and  the  faces  of  the  girls,  as  they  lie  on  the 
grass,  bear  the  expression  of  being  carried  away  by  the 
magic  of  the  notes.  How  unaffectedly  he  has  composed 
the  scene,  and  in  what  a  transcendent  manner  has  he 
caught  the  natural  sweetness  of  the  faces  !  Proudly  and 
yet  with  simplicity  the  boy  proceeds  with  his  charming 
task,  and  the  innocent  damsels  follow  the  airs  with  rapture, 


xiv      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      403 

while  the  spectator  feels  that  already  the  evil  spirit  of 
discord  between  the  lately  contending  factions  has  been 
laid  at  rest.  This  noble  picture  will  hereafter  be  honoured 
as  a  national  heirloom,  both  for  its  idea  and  for  its  artistic 
perfection.  It  was  followed  by  a  series  of  admirable 
portraits,  Lady  Campbell  of  the  same  year  being  one  of 
the  best,  and  these  were  continued  to  the  end.  Between 
these  the  ground  was  richly  grown  with  subject  pictures 
and  landscapes,  "  The  Ornithologist  "  to  wit,  which  had 
its  charm  in  beautiful  figures  of  women  and  children, 
"  The  Old  Garden,"  and,  towards  the  close,  the  impressive 
picture,  "  Speak,  Speak,"  and  the  martyr  figure  of  St. 
Stephen,  painted  when  the  gates  of  darkness  were  well- 
nigh  closing  upon  the  painter. 

These  are  but  a  few  of  the  many  examples  claiming 
recognition  for   Millais  as  that  of  a  man  whose  message 

O  O 

was  not  one  at  second-hand,  but  direct  from  the  Fountain 
of  Truth.  Surely  it  is  the  grimmest  form  of  censure  that 
would  condemn  an  artist  with  such  a  noble  claim  to 
heroism  in  his  youth,  and  such  undying  power  of  high 
purpose  to  the  end,  because  he  showed  some  human  weak- 
ness in  turning  aside  for  a  while  to  the  only  chance  which 
his  country  left  of  gaining  the  means  to  continue  his 
struggle.  Discouraging  and  dangerous  as  the  retreat 
might  have  been,  it  was  a  matter  of  admiration  that  it 
had  no  destructive  force  on  his  permanent  power. 


CHAPTER   XV 

RETROSPECT 
I897 

In  morals,  as  in  art,  saying  is  nothing,  doing  is  all. — RENAN. 

God  sometimes  granteth  unto  a  man  to  learn  and  to  know  how  to 
make  a  thing,  the  like  whereof  in  his  day  no  other  can  contrive,  and 
perhaps  for  a  long  time  none  hath  been  before  him,  and  after  him 
cometh  another  not  soon. — ALBERT  DURER. 

THE  earliest  impulse  in  art  was  to  present  what  recom- 
mended itself  as  fascinating  and  beautiful  in  the  limner's 
eyes  ;  but  however  strictly  this  was  the  aim  of  each 
workman,  the  representation  that  he  made  was  always 
different  from  that  of  his  fellow-artists,  indeed  each 
drawing,  made  by  students  in  a  modern  school  from  the 
same  model,  differs  from  its  neighbour  ;  either  human 
vision  sees  things  with  a  bias,  or  the  hand  is  directed 
diversely  by  the  individual's  nature  who  interprets  it. 
Art,  like  astronomy,  has  its  "personal  equation."  The 
human  mind  for  good  or  for  bad  operates  in  all  the 
hand  portrays  ;  if  an  artist  suppresses  his  personal 
partialities  for  grace  of  form,  putting  aside  the  prin- 
ciple of  selection,  and,  rejecting  nothing  which  is 
ugly  or  confusing,  he  throws  away  that  guiding  spirit 
which  alone  advances  to  perfection,  his  work  cannot 
progress  in  either  grace  or  beauty.  It  is  only  by  striving 
after  the  highest  that  the  noblest  service  may  be  fulfilled. 
That  this  has  been  required  of  art  since  society  was 

404 


CH.XV    PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD    405 

systematised  is  proved  by  the  manner  in  which  she  has 
been  called  upon  to  serve  in  the  worship  of  the  Unseen. 
But  a  danger  to  the  artist,  to  the  purpose  of  his  work, 
and  to  the  work  itself,  lurks  in  delight  of  the  idea  alone 
without  care  of  the  fulness  and  beauty  of  the  form  in 
which  this  is  presented.  All  appeals  to  the  strong 
emotions  demand  the  representation  of  truth  and  beauty 
in  the  expression  of  its  outward  form.  Without  con- 
summate treatment  in  this  respect,  the  work  gives  only 
the  ghost  of  a  thought,  for  it  may  truly  here  be  said, 
"  The  blood  is  the  life."  The  Greek  Church  in  its  art  has 
proved  how  deadness  follows  the  pursuit  of  the  mere 
exaltation  of  a  starved  truth  ;  but  in  recognising  this 
peril  we  must  not  ignore  a  no  less  certain  danger  which 
must  overtake  us  when  we  abandon  our  ideal  ambitions 
to  make  instead  merely  an  external  likeness  of  a  fact — a 
danger  none  the  less  sordid  when  it  is  decked  in  sensuous 
splendour.  Modern  days  show  us  so  glaringly  the  limita- 
tions of  this  materialistic  school,  that  we  need  not  cite 
examples  to  prove  the  case.  We  have  all  seen  in  exhi- 
bitions, paintings  whose  fit  home  could  be  but  in  a 
collection  of  the  lower  types  of  creation  in  a  physiological 
museum,  and  others  suitable  only  to  inspire  horror  in  a 
Turkish  harem.  Millais  was  not  a  painter  with  a  deter- 
mined eclectic  purpose,  but  his  worship  of  Nature  led  him 
to  love  the  intangible  beauty  she  offers  to  them  that  can 
see.  It  may  be  said,  notwithstanding  his  lapses  from 
highest  purpose,  that  he  disdained  polluted  nature,  and 
never,  in  order  to  win  favour  with  the  fevered  sentimentalist, 
allowed  his  art  to  deal  with  the  morbid.  Surely  it  were 
preposterous  to  agree  with  what  is  flippantly  said,  that  Pre- 
Raphaelitism  had  produced  only  trivial  and  transient  results. 
As  regards  the  other  member  of  our  Body,  whatever 
the  full  estimate  of  Rossetti's  genius  may  be,  there 
must  be  no  belittling  of  his  artistic  power  or  of  the 
influence  he  exercised  over  Morris  and  Burne- Jones. 
Beginning  with  them  when  they  were  far  beyond  the 
age  for  ordinary  youths  to  enter  upon  the  career  of 


4o6         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

art,  he  managed  to  bring  them  to  such  proficiency 
as  painters  that  small  trace  was  to  be  seen  of  the 
results  of  loss  of  boyish  training.  From  small  experi- 
mental beginnings  Morris,  allied  with  Madox  Brown, 
Rossetti,  Burne-  Jones,  and  Philip  Webb,  acting,  as 
I  have  shown,  upon  an  idea  promulgated  by  Millais 
and  myself  twelve  years  earlier,  gradually  developed  a 
system  of  ornamentation  so  royal  and  perfect  in  principle, 
that  again  the  spirit  of  British  taste,  which  had  produced 
the  old  cathedrals,  the  rich  wood  carvings  of  varying 
types  and  ages,  the  choice  embroideries,  the  gorgeous 
metal  work  of  iron,  gold  and  silver,  the  graceful  fittings 
of  old  English  homes,  the  exquisite  Wedgwood  ware, 
and  the  old  Worcester  and  porcelain  work,  had  been  re- 
awakened. The  vulgar  ugliness  of  design  introduced  in 
the  Regency  days  exemplified  by  the  Brighton  Pavilion 
and  mahogany  monstrosities  of  furniture  now  appeared 
to  have  received  its  death-blow.  The  new  spirit  did  not 
stay  its  hand  with  this  conquest,  but  when  mature  also 
overcame  the  modern  Gothic  introduced  by  the  servile 
minds  of  Pugin,  Barry,  and  Gilbert  Scott.  William  Morris 
and  his  band  did  their  work  honestly  and  well  ;  whether 
the  world  can  duly  appreciate  and  profit  by  the  service 
will  depend  very  greatly  upon  the  influence  of  the  press. 
If  this  be  moved  only  by  the  constant  love  of  new 
sensations  and  ceaseless  hunger  for  foreign  influence, 
as  indeed  may  be  somewhat  feared,  "  sin  liethatthe  door," 
not  of  the  artists,  but  at  that  of  the  men  who  occupy  the 
post  of  leaders  of  public  taste.  Ten  or  fifteen  years  ago 
there  could  have  been  no  hesitation  on  the  part  of  any 
competent  authority  to  decide  that  a  most  effectual  and 
apparently  permanent  progress  had  been  established  in  the 
forms  and  decorations  of  objects  connected  with  our  daily 
life.  This  had  grown  up,  year  by  year,  very  slowly  at 
first,  from  1861  until  the  adoption  of  Morris's  control  and 
superintendence  in  house  furnishing  was  regarded  as  a 
necessity  for  all  aspiringly  fashionable  people,  but,  alas  !  it 
proved  to  be  nothing  but  a  game  of  folio w-my-leader. 


xv      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD       407 

People  who  had  felt  themselves  "  Philistines,"  if  they  had 
not  an  interior  supplied  from  Morris  and  Co.,  soon  showed 
that  they  were  merely  obeying  the  passing  craze  of  the 
season,  and  when  his  design  was  no  longer  a  novelty  they 
turned  to  other  modes,  sometimes  of  the  most  egregious 
baseness,  extolling  their  last  choice  as  much  in  advance 
of  Morris,  just  as  they  had  formerly  compared  his  designs 
with  their  previous  wall-paper  patterns  of  realistic  roses 
tied  up  with  ill-designed  ribbons  and  devices  of  equal 
triviality.  It  would  indeed  seem  as  though  the  reform 
in  this  respect  had  no  lasting  value  ;  the  clamour  of 
tongues  may  indeed  rule  that  the  "  New  Art  "  has  super- 
seded Morris's  designs  and  assume  that  the  last  phase  of 
taste  must  be  the  best. 

Another  signal  example  of  the  benefit  accruing  to 
decorative  design  from  minds  versed  in  pictorial  art  is 
given  by  the  achievements  of  William  de  Morgan  in 
ceramic  pottery,  which  in  the  branches  it  undertakes  is 
of  such  exquisite  character  as  to  furnish  a  worthy 
equivalent  to  Italian  and  Spanish  productions.  The 
artist's  chemical  and  scientific  profundity  enabled  him 
to  add  to  his  beautiful  forms  metallic  lustres  of  re- 
fined fascination  such  as  never  should  be  allowed  to 
lapse  tor  want  of  appreciation.  Instability  in  the  public 
taste,  when  an  advance  has  really  been  made,  is  a  deadly 
token  of  the  failure  of  capacity  for  sound  judgment 
in  the  wealthy  classes,  and  destroys  confidence  among 
craftsmen  that  sacrifices  such  as  Morris  made  to  obtain 
the  best  results  will  be  worthily  rewarded. 

I  would  also  remind  my  readers  of  Woolner's  worthiest 
achievements,  for  he  undoubtedly  gave  an  excellent  example 
of  a  more  finished  and  nervous  treatment  of  marble  than 
he  found  prevalent  at  the  time  ;  this  was  to  be  seen  in  his 
busts  and  sometimes  in  his  whole-length  figures.  However 
much  of  mannerism  may  have  been  present  in  the  mien  and 
bearing  of  the  heads,  and  in  the  occasional  habit  of  enlarging 
the  eyes,  his  workmanship  must  ever  be  looked  upon  as  ad- 
mirable. The  heads  of  Tennyson,  F.  D.  Maurice,  Carlyle, 


4o8         PRE-RAPHAELIT1SM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

and  Rajah  Brooke  must  be  regarded  as  fine  examples 
of  realisations  and  skilful  carving.  A  small  model  of  a 
girl  at  a  well,  striving  to  kiss  a  young  brother  writhing 
in  her  arms,  was  so  graceful  in  line  as  to  justify  the 
belief  that  he  would  succeed  in  groups  of  poetic  nature, 
if  he  had  an  opportunity  of  undertaking  them.  His  statue 
of  Sassoon  sent  to  India  was,  as  I  remember  it,  truly 
admirable.  The  group  he  made  for  Sir  Walter  Trevelyan's 
hall  at  Wallington  possesses  fine  points  in  sculpturesque 
form  and  finish. 

The  accusation  of  the  ineffectiveness  of  our  reform  in 
art  has  compelled  me  to  record  first  what  should  be 
known  of  the  career  of  the  active  members  of  our  Brother- 
hood, what  they  did  by  their  own  hands,  or  by  their 
influence  on  others,  and  thus  in  turn  I  am  compelled  to 
speak  of  myself.  I  confess  I  cannot  do  so  without 
expressing  regret  at  the  limited  quantity  of  my  own 
productions  ;  the  story  I  have  told  will  explain  how 
little  this  was  within  my  control.  I  speak  with  the 
more  hesitation  because  I  am  conscious  that  already 
incidents  connected  with  my  own  experience  have  been 
largely  dwelt  upon  in  this  book.  In  part,  the  temptation 
to  such  egoism  has  arisen  from  my  own  interest  in  the 
East,  where  I  lived  so  long  while  the  character  of  the 
people  and  their  adaptability  to  the  illustration  of  ancient 
history  still  existed.  In  other  matters,  the  inclination 
to  speak  of  myself  has  been  induced  from  determination 
to  be  candid  about  the  experiences  of  all  native-born 
artists  subject  to  the  conditions  of  patronage  in  this 
country.  I  have  hoped  thus  to  enable  the  outside 
community  of  taste  to  decide  how  best  to  assist  the  labours 
of  future  men. 

Life,  as  the  years  advance,  becomes  a  more  sacred  trust, 
and  it  is  of  vital  importance  to  decide  that  one's  course  is 
not  undertaken  without  just  consideration.  I  am  persuaded 
that  my  decision  to  realise  my  purpose  of  painting  in  the 
East,  at  whatever  cost  it  might  be,  was  no  rash  one.  It  was 
certain  that  the  time  had  come  when  others  in  the  world 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     409 

of  thought  besides  myself  were  moved  by  the  new  spirit, 
which  could  not  allow  the  highest  of  all  interests  to  remain 
as  an  uninvestigated  revelation.  From  the  beginning  of 
my  attempt  till  this  time  many  thinkers  of  various 
schools  have  devoted  themselves  to  elucidate  anew  the 
history  treated  in  the  gospels,  and  the  desire  for  further 
light  cannot  be  quenched.  The  conviction  I  started 
with,  that  much  of  the  teaching  of  Christ's  life  is  lost 
by  history  being  overlaid  with  sacerdotal  gloss,  is 
widely  shared  by  others.  The  subjects  I  have  treated 
have  been  few  for  the  extent  of  time  I  have  ex- 
pended upon  the  pictures  ;  but  I  console  myself  with 
the  reflection  that  my  object  gave  some  degree  of  magni- 
tude to  the  attempt,  and  that  thus  the  lack  of  quantity 
may  in  the  end  not  be  taken  altogether  as  a  mark  of 
incapacity  or  indolence.  I  have  established  my  claim  as 
a  pioneer  for  English  art  in  study  of  historic  truth, 
which  artists  of  other  nations  in  their  own  ways  have 
followed.  I  was  told  when  it  appeared  about  1860, 
that  Renan's  "  Vie  de  Jesus  "  would  entirely  destroy  my 
understanding  of  the  history  in  the  gospels.  I  therefore 
felt  it  incumbent  upon  me  to  use  the  quiet  my  re- 
arrival  in  Jerusalem  in  1869  gave  me,  to  read  the  book. 
It  was  an  exponent  of  the  prevailing  spirit  of  investi- 
gation, not  only  by  comparison  with  records  of  the  time, 
but  also  by  reference  to  Eastern  life  as  traced  by  a  resident 
student  in  Syria.  The  failing  of  the  book  lay  in  its  lack 
of  imagination  concerning  the  profundity  and  sublimity 
of  the  mind  and  purpose  of  Jesus  ;  a  mere  provincial  and 
enthusiastic  dervish  of  modern  type  was  made  to  figure  in 
the  place  of  the  most  unflinching  proclaimer  of  truth  and 
love. 

To  exercise  original  thought  on  sacred  story  must,  it 
seems,  ever  be  a  challenge  to  the  world.  Carlyle,  it  will  be 
remembered,  saw  in  "The  Light  of  the  World"  only  a 
proclamation  of  ecclesiastical  dogma,  and  so  denounced  it. 
Kingsley  also  very  actively  took  up  this  cue.  Thackeray 
at  one  time,  for  the  same  reason,  was  reserved,  and 


4io         PRE-RAPHAELJTISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

evidently  suspected  in  me  a  degree  of  want  of  thought  or 
of  insincerity.  In  1869  Ruskin  blamed  me  as  a  supporter 
of  absolute  credulity.  On  the  other  hand,  the  extreme 
High  Church  party  regarded  my  humanistic  treatment 
of  the  life  of  Christ  as  wanting  in  reverence.  Fortu- 
nately the  unprejudiced  public  instinctively  felt  an  interest 
in  the  attempt  to  make  the  story  live  as  history,  and 
their  demand  for  engravings  from  my  pictures  induced 
the  publishers  to  give  me  that  support  which  enabled 
me  to  persevere  ;  not,  indeed,  so  soon  or  so  thoroughly 
as  I  had  desired,  but  after  long  waiting.  In  liberal 
quarters  the  clergy  distinctly  gave  their  approval  to 
my  purpose,  for  they  did  not  fail  to  see  that  my 
work  was  done  with  reverence,  yet  none  of  these  were 
powerful  enough  to  commission  me  to  paint  any  picture 
in  a  church. 

"  The  Finding  of  Christ  in  the  Temple  "  passed  into 
the  collection  of  Mr.  Charles  Mathews,  and  when  his 
pictures  were  dispersed  at  his  death  Messrs.  Agnew 
purchased  it.  The  establishment  of  permanent  art 
galleries  in  provincial  towns  had  now  made  a  home 
for  pictures  not  suitable  for  ordinary  living  rooms. 
The  Liverpool  community  purchased  my  Jerusalem 
painting  of  "The  Triumph  of  the  Innocents."1  Mr. 
J.  T.  Middlemore,  M.P.,  recognised  the  fitness  of  my 
picture  for  the  Gallery  of  his  native  city,  and,  as  has  been 
already  recorded,  taxed  his  generosity  to  secure  it.  "The 
Shadow  of  Death  "  had  been  similarly  presented  to  Man- 
chester by  Sir  William  Agnew. 

The  suspicion  of  certain  thinkers  that  "  The  Light  of 
the  World  "  was  painted  to  support  the  Puseyite  move- 
ment had  no  justification. 

Mr.  Combe,  to  whom  the  picture  belonged,  had,  with 
Mrs.  Combe,  from  the  Littlemore  days  a  loving  friendship 
for  Dr.  Newman,  who  had  first  introduced  them  to  one 
another.  This  perhaps  gradually  led  them  to  acquiesce 
in  the  degree  of  ritualism  at  the  Church  of  St.  Barnabas, 

1    The  larger  replica  is  still  the  property  of  Mr.  Middlemore. 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      411 

which  they  had  built  and  endowed.  The  clerical  circle  at 
St.  Barnabas  were  not  so  tolerant  towards  my  broader  views 
as  Mr.  and  Mrs.  Combe,  and  declined  my  offer  to  design 
and  superintend  some  decorations,  and  to  paint  some 
figures  on  its  walls  myself.  The  good  "  Squire  "  had, 
from  his  first  acquisition  of  pictures,  declared  that  they 
should  eventually  go  to  one  of  the  University  Galleries  ; 
but  when  all  were  mourning  his  death  on  the  day  of  his 
burial,  Mrs.  Combe,  moved  by  impulse  of  sacrifice,  used 
her  prerogative  to  give  the  picture  to  Keble  College.  Mr. 
Butterfield,  the  architect,  decided  that  its  proportions  were 
too  small  to  be  a  feature  in  the  architecture  of  the  chapel 
chancel.  I  objected  to  the  proposal  that  it  should  be  placed 
on  an  easel,  or  in  the  sacristy  as  too  dark  a  chamber,  and 
so  for  some  years  it  was  secluded  from  the  public  in  the 
private  rooms  of  the  college.  It  was  then  proposed  that 
it  should  be  placed  in  the  library.  I  met  Mr.  Butterfield 
to  see  the  place  suggested.  Demurring  to  its  darkness,  I 
was  obliged  further  to  protest,  because  underneath  the 
spot  there  ran  hot-air  pipes,  sending  up  blasts  of  heat 
through  the  open  screen,  which,  passing  over  the  picture, 
would  ruin  it. 

The  offer  was  then  made  to  seal  up  the  pipes  with 
boards  hermetically.  As  time  pressed  I  agreed,  with  caution 
to  the  officials  to  guard  against  any  injury  that  might  still 
arise.  The  prejudice  of  the  narrower  High  Church  party 
against  my  conception  of  the  subject  disturbed  my  par- 
ticipation in  Mrs.  Combe's  confidence  as  to  the  authorities' 
sympathy  with  the  picture. 

When  in  1886  the  painting  was  lent  for  exhibition  in 
London,  its  condition  was  truly  lamentable,  the  surface 
being  shrivelled  up  by  long-continued  heat.  Regarding 
this  as  an  accident  which  would  be  regretted  by  Keble 
College  as  much  as  by  myself,  I  with  great  pains  and 
expenditure  of  time  restored  it  before  its  return. 

Both  before  and  after  the  death  of  Mrs.  Combe,  having 
frequent  reasons  to  doubt  the  safety  of  the  work,  I  eventually 
undertook  the  subject  in  a  second  painting  of  life  size. 


4i2          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

This  I  had  on  hand  for  several  years.  To  guard  the 
replica  against  being  shut  up  from  the  public  or  subject  to 
any  private  caprice,  I  imposed  conditions  upon  its  sale. 

When  it  was  on  exhibition  in  Bond  Street,  the  bursar 
of  Keble  College  appeared  and  declared  to  all  present 
that  the  facts  of  the  College  treatment  of  the  picture  as 
given  in  the  pamphlet  then  issued  were  incorrect,  and 
that  the  artist  knew  it  to  be  so.  The  next  day  the 
following  letter  from  Dr.  Lock,  the  Warden,  was  pub- 
lished in  The  Times  : — 


Keble  College  and  "  The  Light  of  the  World." 
To  THE  EDITOR  OF  "THE  TIMES  " 

SIR — I  feel  sure  that  you  will,  out  of  your  sense  of  justice, 
allow  me  to  claim  some  space  in  your  columns  in  order  to 
justify  the  Keble  College  authorities  from  the  aspersions  made 
upon  them  in  your  columns  on  Monday  last  with  reference  to 
their  treatment  of  Mr.  Holman  Hunt's  "Light  of  the  World." 
I  make  no  complaint  against  the  writer  of  the  article  in  ques- 
tion ;  he  has  evidently  relied  upon  the  note  issued  at  the  Exhibition 
of  the  new  "  Light  of  the  World  "  by  the  Fine  Arts  Society,  and 
he  might  naturally  expect  such  a  note  to  be  authoritative.  But, 
as  I  have  to-day  been  reading  through  all  the  correspondence  upon 
the  subject,  I  do  not  hesitate  to  say  that  that  note  is  so  full  of 
perversions  of  fact  and  of  unjust  insinuations  that  it  ought  to  be 
withdrawn  from  publication. 

Allow  me  to  relate  the  facts  : -- 

I.  In  1872  Mrs.  Combe  offered  the  picture  to  the  Keble 
College  Council  on  condition  that  it  should  be  placed  in  the 
College  chapel,  which  was  at  that  time  being  designed  by  Mr. 
Butterfield,  and  was  to  be  erected  at  the  expense  of  a  private 
donor,  Mr.  William  Gibbs  of  Tyntesfield.  The  Council  con- 
sulted the  donor  and  the  architect,  and  pressed  upom  them  the 
advisability  of  modifying  the  designs  so  as  to  include  the  picture 
in  the  structure.  Both  donor  and  architect  were  quite  clear 
that  the  plans  were  too  far  advanced  for  any  change,  and  that, 
great  as  were  the  merits  of  the  picture,  it  was  not  of  a  piece 
with  the  whole  tone  and  treatment  of  the  rest  of  the  chapel, 
and  therefore  they  refused  to  consent  to  any  alteration,  leav- 
ing the  Council  free  to  place  it  anywhere  in  the  completed 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      413 

chapel  (e.g.  on  an  easel  in  the  chapel  or  in  the  vestry),  it 
it  should  seem  desirable.  As  soon  as  the  chapel  was  finished, 
these  alternatives  were  considered,  but  it  was  seen  at  once  that 
none  of  them  would  give  sufficient  light  to  do  justice  to  the 
picture,  and  it  was  decided  to  put  it  into  the  library.  Mrs. 
Combe  expressed  her  "entire  acquiescence"  in  this  proposal,  and 
Mr.  Holman  Hunt  wrote  to  Mrs.  Combe:  "It  seems  to  me  a 
very  wise  decision  that  has  been  made.  I  quite  agree  that  the 
proportions  of  the  church  itself  are  too  large  to  afford  a  fitting 
niche  for  the  picture.  ...  In  the  sacristy  the  light  and  space  are 
not  enough  for  our  picture." 

2.  For  nearly  twenty  years  the  picture  hung  in  the  library, 
and  in  order  to  do  it  honour  we  had  Mr.  Ruskin's  description  of 
its  symbolism  printed  and  hung  up  by  it.     But  it  is  complained 
that  it  was  placed  in  such  a  position  that,  through  the  proximity 
of  a  hot   flue,  it  was  seriously   damaged.     With  regard   to   this, 
some  damage  was  perhaps  due  to  the   hot -water  pipes   beneath 
the  picture,  but   I  have  little  doubt  that   the   damage  is  greatly 
exaggerated   in  the    note,   and    it   ought   to    be   known    that   Mr. 
Holman  Hunt  was  himself  consulted  as  to  the  position  chosen, 
and  that  the   Council  carried  out  the  one  suggestion  which  he 
made,  that  a  covering  should  be  placed  over  the  hot-water  pipes 
at  that  part. 

3.  In    1894  we  were   enabled,   by  the    munificence   of  Mrs. 
Combe,  to   build   a   side-chapel.      Here   at   last  we    had    a   place 
appropriate  for  the  picture,  and  it  was  at  once  transferred  thither  ; 
a    stately   frame   was   designed    for   it,   and   it   was    placed    on    a 
swinging    hinge,    so    that   visitors   can    always  move    it    to    catch 
the  right  light.     The  note  says  that  it  was  placed  in  the  new 
frame    "  without    the    title,  and   bearing   a    different   and    totally 
inappropriate  text."     These  statements  are  absolutely  untrue  ;  the 
original  gilt  frame  has  never  been  touched  ;   it  has  been  set  entire 
in  an  oaken  frame  ;   the  title  is  there  still,  as  well  as  the  original 
text,  the  same  which  Mr.  Holman  Hunt  has  repeated  in  his  new- 
picture. 

The  note  further  adds  that  the  picture  was  refused  for  public 
exhibition  at  the  Guildhall.  We  have  had  so  many  applications 
that  the  picture  may  be  exhibited  elsewhere  that  we  have  been 
obliged  to  make  a  rule  against  it  ;  but,  as  a  matter  of  fact,  when, 
in  1899,  application  was  made  that  it  might  be  exhibited  in  the 
Guildhall,  the  Council  set  aside  its  rule  and  gave  consent,  but 
the  proposal  was  vetoed  by  Mr.  Holman  Hunt  himself. 

"  The  artist,"  we  are  told,  "  was  driven  to  the  conclusion  that 
his  work  was  permanently  hidden  from  the  world."  Hidden 


4i4         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

from  the  world  !  Did  the  artist  make  that  complaint  when  his 
picture  was  the  private  property  of  Mr.  Combe,  and  could  only 
be  seen  by  his  private  friends  ?  Why  make  it  now,  when  for 
rive  hours  every  week-day  in  the  year  the  whole  world  can,  on 
payment  of  a  small  fee,  have  access  to  the  picture,  and  when 
every  visitor  to  it  receives  a  printed  copy  of  Mr.  Ruskin's  descrip- 
tion of  it  ?  The  artist,  no  doubt,  would  prefer  that  no  fee  should 
be  charged.  We  too  should  prefer  it  ;  but  to  prevent  harm  to 
the  picture  it  must  be  in  the  care  of  a  servant,  and  it  can  scarcely 
be  expected  that  an  unendowed  college  should  be  charged  with 
this  expense.  The  artist  is  kind  enough  to  admit  that  since  my 
appointment  as  Warden  the  picture  has  been  treated  with  greater 
consideration.  But  I  have  no  right  to  claim  this  praise  ;  the 
transference  of  the  picture  to  the  chapel  was  made  by  my  pre- 
decessor, Dr.  Wilson,  and  all  correspondence  shows  that  Dr. 
Talbot  was  as  proud  of  the  picture  and  as  anxious  to  do  it  justice 
as  either  Dr.  Wilson  or  myself. 

4.  The  note  states  that  the  picture  was  not  regarded 
favourably  by  the  authorities  of  Keble  College,  and  insinuates 
that  it  was  "  presumably  on  religious  grounds  "  ;  and  your  article 
explains  this  by  suggesting  that  they  thought  "  the  picture  too 
liberal  in  meaning."  I  confess  that  I  entirely  fail  to  understand 
what  is  meant  by  such  an  assertion,  but,  as  the  picture  never  has 
been  regarded  unfavourably,  it  is  not  worth  while  to  consider  the 
motives.  Our  one  aim  has  been  to  treat  the  picture  with  all 
honour  ;  our  College  was  founded  in  the  belief  that  the  subject 
of  the  painting  is  the  Light  of  all  mankind  ;  the  picture,  whether 
in  the  library  or  in  the  chapel,  has  helped  many  of  us  to  a  stronger 
faith  and  a  greater  confidence  in  that  Light  guiding  us  in  our 
studies  ;  it  has,  I  believe,  inspired  some  of  our  members  to  take 
part  in  spreading  that  Light  throughout  the  world  ;  and  we 
welcome  with  unmixed  pleasure  the  news  that  Mr.  Holman  Hunt 
has  produced  a  replica,  and  that  Mr.  Booth  is  going  to  send  it  for 
exhibition  through  the  Colonies,  in  the  hope  that  it  may  have 
something  of  the  same  influence  there  as  the  original  has  had 
here. — I  am,  sir,  yours  respectfully, 

WALTER  LOCK   (Warden). 

K.EBT.E  COLLEGE,  March  22,  1904. 

To  THE  EDITOR  OF  "THE  TIMES" 

SIR — I  have  to  ask  you  to  extend  your  well-proved  courtesy 
in  permitting  me  to  make  some  observations  upon  a  letter  that 
was  published  in  your  columns  of  March  24  from  the  Warden 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      415 

of  Keble.  In  a  printed  notice  issued  at  a  recent  exhibition  of 
my  replica  of  the  picture  "  The  Light  of  the  World,"  I  gave 
some  reasons  why  I  painted  this  replica.  But  as  I  understood 
that  these  remarks  were  disapproved  of  by  the  Warden  of  Keble, 
and  at  the  request  of  those  who  were  conducting  the  Exhibition, 
I  consented  to  their  removal  from  the  Catalogue,  as  I  had  no  wish 
to  revive  an  ancient  controversy.  The  Warden  of  Keble  College 
has,  however,  by  the  statements  in  his  letter,  left  me  no  option 
but  to  reply. 

The  original  picture  was  hung  in  proximity  to  some  hot- 
water  pipes  and,  as  I  have  been  informed,  there  was  also  a  flue 
behind  it.  I  do  not,  of  course,  impute  to  the  authorities  that 
they  tried  to  destroy  the  picture,  but  when  it  came  to  my  studio 
it  was  very  severely  damaged  with  blisters,  and  in  parts  the  paint 
had  scaled  off".  The  Warden  says,  "he  has  little  doubt  that  the 
damage  is  greatlv  exaggerated."  This  is  an  airy  way  of  dismissing 
the  subject,  and  hardly  very  gracious,  considering  that  it  took  me 
four  or  five  weeks'  labour  to  repair  the  injury,  time  which  I  gave 
gratuitously,  the  cost  of  relining  the  picture  being  defrayed  by 
Mrs.  Combe.  The  injury  might  have  been  arrested  if  the 
authorities  of  the  College  had  caused  the  picture  to  be  occasionally 
inspected  by  an  expert,  but  I  do  not  think  they  were  aware  of 
its  condition,  or  saw  much  difference  when  it  was  returned. 
Its  state,  however,  can  be  vouched  for  by  several  persons  now 
living,  and  is  not  a  matter  on  which  any  doubt  can  exist. 

In  my  note  I  stated  that  "  when  the  chapel  was  built  the 
picture  was  placed  there,  but  in  a  new  frame,  without  the  title, 
and  bearing  a  different  and  totally  inappropriate  text."  This 
statement  is  designated  by  the  Warden,  with  more  directness 
than  courtesy,  as  "absolutely  untrue."  In  fact,  however,  when  I 
heard  of  the  new  frame,  and  the  absurdly  inappropriate  text  upon 
it,  I  journeyed  to  Oxford  to  protest,  and  1  saw  the  frame  and 
text  myself,1  and  remonstrated  with  the  late  Warden.  The 
matter  does  not  rest  there  ;  other  persons  saw  it  also,  and  their 
testimony  corroborates  mine.  The  frame  and  text  were  after- 
wards removed,  and  the  former  frame  restored.  As  to  mv 
complaint  that  the  picture  is  not  sufficiently  accessible,  the 
Warden  says  that  a  fee  is  necessary,  as  "  it  can  hardly  be  expected 
that  an  unendowed  college  should  be  charged  with  the  expense 
of  showing  it."  He  adds,  "the  artist  no  doubt  would  prefer  that 
no  fee  should  be  charged."  I  must  say  I  should  prefer  it.  When 

1  The  text  substituted  tor  "Behold  I  stand  at  the  door  and  knock,"  etc., 
etc.,  was,  "  Knock,  and  it  shall  be  opened  unto  you.  Seek,  and  ye  shall 
find."1 


416         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

the  picture  was  given  to  Keble,  still  more  when  the  generous 
donor,  my  early  friend,  further  bequeathed  ^1500  towards 
building  a  chapel  for  it,  I  had  hoped  it  would  have  been  accessible 
to  poor  as  well  as  rich.  It  is,  perhaps,  unlikely  the  Warden  and 
I  shall  agree  on  this  matter.  But  one  of  my  reasons  for  painting 
the  replica  was  the  hope  that  it  would  be  accessible  to  all,  and, 
thanks  to  the  public  spirit  of  another  donor,  I  believe  that  this 
hope  will  eventually  be  realised.  When  the  picture  was  the  private 
property  of  Mr.  Combe  no  charge  was  made  for  its  exhibition. 
It  was  shown  freely,  and  was  lent  for  long  months  to  the 
Royal  Academy,  the  Paris,  and  other  Exhibitions. 

I  regret  that  the  few  words  of  explanation  I  wrote  should 
have  given  rise  to  this  controversy.  I  have  no  wish  to  prolong 
it.  I  am  willing  to  believe  the  professions  of  the  Warden  that 
the  authorities  now  value  the  picture,  and  I  hope  that  they  may 
be  induced  some  day  to  exhibit  it  without  charge,  in  the  same 
way  as  other  Colleges  allow  the  masterpieces  in  their  possession 
to  be  seen  without  exacting  any  remuneration. — I  am,  yours, 

W.  HOLM  AN  HUNT. 

1 8  MEI.RURV  ROAD. 


To  THE   EDITOR  OF  "THE  TIMES" 

SIR — Mr.  Holman  Hunt  so  willingly  admits  that  the  Keble 
College  authorities  now  value  "The  Light  of  the  World  "  that  I 
agree  with  him  in  wishing  not  to  prolong  this  controversy. 

It  is,  however,  fair  both  to  himself  and  to  myself,  to  explain 
the  point  on  which  we  seem  to  be  in  direct  contradiction,  I  mean 
the  statement  that  the  picture  was  placed  in  the  chapel  without 
its  title,  and  with  the  addition  of  an  inappropriate  text. 

Mr.  Holman  Hunt  has  himself  supplied  the  link  which  explains 
the  contradiction.  The  original  statement  that  the  picture  was 
so  placed  in  the  chapel,  gave  the  impression  that  that  was  the 
condition  of  the  picture  during  the  ten  years  that  it  has  been 
placed  there  ;  and  this  I  was  sure  was  entirely  untrue. 

Mr.  Holman  Hunt  now  adds  that  the  offending  frame  and 
text  were  afterwards  removed  ;  he  is  therefore  referring  to  the 
first  frame,  which  was  designed  for  the  picture  when  it  was  trans- 
ferred to  the  chapel.  This,  however,  was  disliked  by  the  late 
Warden,  as  well  as  by  Mr.  Holman  Hunt,  and  was  in  the  chapel 
for  so  very  short  a  time  (I  think  not  more  than  a  very  few  weeks) 
that  it  had  entirely  escaped  my  memory.  Mr.  Holman  Hunt 
savs  this  had  no  title  and  a  different  text  ;  in  this  it  is  possible 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      417 

that  he  is  right.  I  at  least  have  no  recollection  of  the  frame 
sufficient  to  make  me  doubt  his  word  ;  and  as  it  was  at  once 
condemned  as  unsatisfactory,  the  point  is  unimportant  to  the 
main  issue  of  my  letter. — I  am,  yours  respectfully, 

WALTER  LOCK. 

KEBLE  COLLEGE,   OXFORD,  March  31. 

I  had  no  reason  after  this  handsome  retraction  to 
prolong  the  correspondence. 

The  Right  Honourable  Charles  Booth  bought  the 
picture.  Sympathising  with  my  desire  (suggested  by  Lady 
Loch,  the  widow  of  the  late  Governor  at  the  Cape)  that  it 
should  be  seen  in  the  Transvaal,  and  finally  presented  to  a 
public  gallery,  he  transcended  the  original  proposal  by 
generously  determining  in  true  imperial  spirit  that  the 
picture  should  be  exhibited  throughout  the  realm,  and 
eventually  be  presented  to  the  Tate  Gallery  where  it 
should  never  be  secluded  from  the  public. 

I  have  still  to  defend  our  movement  against  the  charge 
of  being  ephemeral,  and  to  sum  up  its  claims. 

It  would  be  impossible  to  follow  the  tale  of  enchanting 
works  in  painting  and  in  decoration  which  unchartered 
Pre-Raphaelites,  candidly  professing  influence  from  our 
example,  contributed  to  its  honour. 

My  assertion  as  to  Brown's  relation  to  us  in  no  way 
modifies  his  claim  to  having  been  the  painter  of  many 
pictures  which  will  ever  touch  the  hearts  of  mankind  and 
will  always  add  to  the  reputation  of  British  genius.  The 
increasing  conversion  of  art  lovers  to  his  merits  is  now, 
alas,  too  late  for  the  country's  full  benefit  from  it. 

The  cruelty  of  the  world  towards  poor  Chatterton, 
whose  only  offence  was  that  he  asked  to  be  heard  as  a 
poet  under  a  feigned  name,  will  never  henceforth  be 
remembered  without  recognition  of  Henry  Wallis  the 
painter,  who  first  so  pathetically  excited  pity  for  his  fate  in 
his  picture  of  the  death  of  the  hapless  boy. 

I  must  also  remind  readers  of  many  exquisite  poems 

VOL.    II  2    E 


4i8         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

painted  by  Arthur  Hughes,  transcribed  from  human  life 
during  the  last  fifty  years. 

Windus  also  for  many  years  added  to  the  toll  of  poetic 
scenes  ere  he  put  by  the  brush. 

The  list  might  be  greatly  amplified,  but  it  should  be 
enough  to  silence  the  detractors  of  our  reform.  I  am 
persuaded  that  had  not  the  hue  and  cry  against  Pre- 
Raphaelitism  been  so  blindly  savage  and  so  general,  such 
tardy  patronage  would  not  have  been  extended  to  our 
works  ;  had  it  been  otherwise,  many  more  pictures,  both 
by  my  hands  and  those  of  others,  would  vindicate  the 
power  of  our  principles. 

It  is  far  from  my  purpose  in  distinguishing  the  different 
manners  and  varying  priority  of  artists  who  joined  in  our 
movement  to  determine  the  relative  artistic  merits  of 
each.  But  it  has  been  seen  that  William  Rossetti  is 
followed  by  many  in  taking  my  laudation  of  his  brother 
as  a  support  to  his  theory  that  Gabriel  was  "the  leader" 
and  true  representative  of  the  original  purpose  of  Millais 
and  myself.  With  misreading  of  evidence  and  long 
possession  of  the  public  ear  which  he  and  his  followers 
have  enjoyed  ;  and  by  means  of  a  multitude  of  publications 
great  and  small,  they  have  led  the  world  to  assume  that 
Rossetti's  priority  could  not  be  disputed,  and  that  his  type 
of  work  was  a  true  representation  of  original  Pre-Raphaelite 
intentions. 

It  did  not  seem  possible  that  this  confusion  could  occur 
when  I  paid  my  tributes  to  Rossetti's  merits,  for  I  wished 
to  prove  that  Pre-Raphaelite  rivalry  could  bear  no  trace 
of  envy.  It  was  not  then  necessary  to  dwell  upon  the 
circumstances  marking  his  estrangement  from  us  ;  I  was 
not  called  upon  in  my  panegyric  to  indicate  the 
dates  and  character  of  his  progressive  steps  in  design 
and  workmanship,  nor  how  these  compared  with  those 
of  other  Pre-Raphaelite  workers.  At  that  time  so 
many  were  alive  who  knew  the  facts,  that  the  shadowy 
pretensions  of  Rossetti's  priority  were  not  worthy  to  be 
taken  into  account.  The  case  is  now  altered.  In 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     419 

writing  the  History  of  Pre-RaphaeJitism  I  must  correct 
erroneous  conclusions  from  any  source,  yet  I  would  pro- 
test against  my  delimitation  of  Rossetti's  claims  being 
taken  as  a  withdrawal  of  my  testimony  to  his  independent 
excellence.  In  disproving  all  right  to  leadership  for  him, 
it  must  not  be  assumed  that  I  fail  to  acknowledge  the 
distinction  which,  in  its  degree,  his  genius  brought  to  our 
cause  ;  and  I  must  maintain  that  his  training  in  my  studio 
had  a  lasting  influence  upon  the  spirit  of  his  mode  of  expres- 
sion. This  apprenticeship  gave  his  art  an  actuality  without 
some  degree  of  which  all  painting  is  characterless  and  un- 
persuasive,  particularly  so  when  of  revivalist  temper.  Our 
methods  of  work,  however,  had  serious  results  on  our 
output.  After  going  apart  on  our  several  ways  Rossetti 
began  to  depend  more  and  more  on  the  practice  of  making 
separate  studies  of  the  parts  of  his  pictures,  while  this 
habit  decreased  with  Millais  and  myself.  Our  experience 
told  us  that  in  determining  the  character  of  heads  and  all 
parts  of  the  figure  in  a  complicated  composition,  it  was  of 
vital  importance  to  have  all  the  surrounding  parts  of  the 
design  in  sight,  and  that  studies  on  detached  paper  could 
not  be  conducted  with  this  advantage.  The  parts  separately 
studied  when  transferred  to  the  canvas  proved  to  be 
irresponsive  to  the  rest,  and  so  with  independent  emotion 
for  each  part,  the  whole  seemed  to  be,  in  our  judgment,  too 
spectacular  in  aspect.  We  therefore  settled  the  exact  pose 
of  the  heads,  and  other  parts  of  the  composition  on  the 
canvas  itself,  hence  our  isolated  drawings  were  made  only 
under  exceptional  circumstances.  The  loss  was  an  obvious 
one,  for  when  an  improvement  was  resolved  upon,  the 
previous  work  had  to  be  rubbed  out,  instead  of  adding  to 
the  number  of  our  productions.  Rossetti,  indeed,  unaffected 
by  such  conviction,  grew  to  love  the  stateliness  of  scenes 
so  arranged,  and  increased  his  practice  of  drawing  pre- 
liminary studies  until  he  made  complete  cartoons  for  his 
projected  subjects  ;  thereby  multiplying  his  designs  very 
liberally.  With  this  he  developed  a  facility  in  drawing 
which  tended  to  an  amplitude  of  pose  and  form,  such  as 


420         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

in  his  earlier  days  he  would  have  avoided  as  belonging  to 
art  over-luxurious  in  manner. 

In  my  Contemporary  articles  of  1886  on  Pre-Raphael- 
itism,  I  felt  the  difficulty  of  ignoring  the  reiterated 
declaration  by  the  two  nominal  members  that  our  Body 
consisted  of  seven.  It  is  undeniable  that,  after  Millais  had 
agreed  that  Gabriel  should  be  a  third  member,  Collinson, 
Woolner,  and  W.  Rossetti  were  proposed  as  additions. 
Thereupon,  fearing  indefinite  extension,  by  proposing 
Stephens  I  limited  the  full  number  to  seven.  William 
Rossetti,  appropriately  for  the  time,  was  made  secretary  of 
the  tentative  society. 

The  hope  that  the  body  would  fulfil  our  expectations 
in  the  course  of  a  year  or  two  gradually  waned.  The 
new  members  soon  made  it  evident  that  the  only  part  of  our 
combination  which  they  enjoyed  was  the  pleasantness  of  our 
Bohemian  meetings.  When  the  original  members  looked 
askance  at  the  non-appearance  of  work  by  the  inactive 
ones,  the  latter  could  see  nothing  wanting  except  in  the 
character  of  the  original  rules,  and  proposed  revision  ; 
further  suggesting  that  each  member  should  draw  up  a 
statement  of  his  understanding  of  the  objects  of  Pre- 
Raphaelitism.  This  constituted  an  overt  admission  that 
they  had  not  understood  our  purpose  from  the  beginning. 
Confidence  between  us  as  to  art  problems  ceased,  although 
we  still  personally  remained  cordial  to  one  another  :  the 
honorary  secretary  soon  gave  up  all  efforts  to  become 
a  painter.  Indeed,  it  may  be  added,  it  was  too  late  in 
life  for  him  to  undertake  the  necessary  studies.  He 
has  said  that  he  is  destitute  of  the  gift  of  genius  ;  but 
the  sonnet  on  the  cover  of  7/ie  Germ,  which  ends  with  the 
line,  "  Truth  is  a  circle,  perfect,  great  or  small,"  goes  far  to 
disprove  this  too-modest  disclaimer.  His  other  sonnet, 
"  The  Evil  under  the  Sun,"  witnesses  to  his  large  pity  for 
the  oppressed,  and  when  the  tyranny  of  Pio  Nono  in  the 
Papal  States  is  remembered,  the  poem  will  be  removed 
from  the  category  of  youthful  outbursts  which  proclaim 
that  whatever  is,  is  wrong.  It  was  fraternal  modesty  that 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     421 

made  him  give  up  the  pursuit  of  poetry.  Genius,  like 
every  other  possibility  for  man,  claims  cultivation,  and  this 
cultivation  W.  M.  Rossetti  forewent  by  consideration  of 
circumstances  that  his  brother  might  have  the  better 
opportunity.  Who  shall  say  that  to  write  sonorous,  well 
thought  out,  and  perfectly  adjusted  verse  is  nobler  than 
to  live  and  walk  through  life  with  sincerity  and  generous 
unselfishness  ?  But  while  I  admire  the  self-sacrifice  of  my 
old  friend,  1  cannot  be  a  party  to  his  endorsement  of 
his  brother's  pretensions,  or  to  his  advocacy  of  his 
father-in-law,  Madox  Brown's  priority  in  example.  His 
fraternal  and  filial  devotion  have  made  him  assume  that 
their  previous  work  was  truly  representative  of  Pre- 
Raphaelitism,  and  have  led  him  to  misapprehend  the  sig- 
nificance of  the  circumstances  of  our  early  days.  His 
prestige  as  the  secretary  of  our  experimental  society  has 
spread  abroad  a  misunderstanding  of  the  true  nature  of 
our  purpose,  which,  if  left  uncorrected,  would  be  matter 
of  much  greater  moment  than  any  confusion  of  our 
relative  personal  claims  could  be. 

In  making  my  final  pronouncement  on  the  real  value 
of  current  traditions,  I  feel  that  I  must  put  aside  my 
hesitation  to  controvert  men  with  whom  I  still  have  the 
memory  of  an  early  and  sacred  friendship.  A  more  complete 
scrutiny  of  the  course  they  pursued  is  therefore  necessary, 
and  the  investigation  will  show  how  damaging  to  the  real 
workers  were  the  results  from  their  incorporation  with 
us.  Indeed,  we  were  not  long  in  discovering  that  our 
dream  for  the  reform  of  art  could  be  fulfilled  only  by  the 
energies  of  independent  allies.  I  must  however  forewarn 
readers  that  this  research  will  involve  a  return  to  many 
early  circumstances,  so  that  those  indifferent  to  such 
survey  may  decide  not  to  proceed  further. 

The  following  letter  from  M.  de  la  Sizeranne  will  show 
how  widely  established  is  the  romantic  fable,  and  how 
necessary  it  is  to  take  radical  means  to  examine  the  value 
of  the  different  witnesses  on  whose  evidence  the  fallacy 
rests.  In  acknowledging  his  courtesy  in  sending  me 


422         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

proofs  of  an  article  on  the  P.R.B.  in  the  Revue  des  deux 
mondes,  I  pointed  out  that  it  would  be  incumbent  on  me 
to  controvert  his  main  theory  about  the  initiative  of  our 
movement.  He  replied  thus  :  — 


CHATEAU   DE  MARGES, 

DROME.  24  oc  fibre. 

MONSIEUR — J'ai  lu,  avec  le  plus  grand  interet,  la  tres  aimable 
et  trcs  interessante  lettre  que  vous  m'avez  fait  1'honneur  de 
m'adresser  a  propos  de  mon  article  sur  La  Peinture  Anglaise 
contemporaine :  ses  origines  pre-raphaelites.  Voulez-vous  me  per- 
mettre,  en  vous  en  remerciant,  de  vous  soumettre  les  raisons  pour 
lesquelles  j'ai  cru  devoir  a  Madox  Brown,  dans  le  mouvement  pre- 
raphaelite,  la  part  initiale  contre  laquelle  vous  protestez  ? 

Vous  trouvez  en  efFet  que  je  lui  ai  fait  une  part  trop  grande, 
et  vous  m'informez  d'abord  qu'il  ne  fut  que  nominalement  le  maitre 
de  Rossetti,  ensuite  qu'il  n'a  jamais  ete  sollicite  d'entrer  dans  la 
Brotherhood,  en  fin  que  ses  oeuvres  caracteristiques  ont  suivi,  et 
non  precede,  celles  de  la  P.R.B.  et  qu'en  particulier  IVork  n'a  ete 
commence  qu'en  1852. 

Sur  le  premier  point,  qui  est  purement  une  question  de  fait- — 
un  fait  qui  remonte  presque  a  cinquante  ans — j'ai  du,  naturelle- 
ment,  suivre  les  temoignages  des  historians  du  mouvement  pre- 
raphaelite  et  de  ceux  qui  y'ont  pris  part — or,  j'ai  d'autant  moins 
suspecte  ces  temoignages  qu'ils  sont  nombreux,  desinteresses  et 
parfaitement  concordants.  Voici  en  efFet  ce  que  je  lis  dans  les 
memoires  de  votre  ami  W.  Bell  Scott,  t.  i.  p.  287:  "A/1.  Ford 
Madox  Brown  came  in,  to  whom  I  found  Rossetti  had  been  in- 
debted for  some  lessons  generously  afforded.  This  he  acknowledged 
with  much  effusion."  Voila  done  Rossetti  lui-meme  qui  temoigne. 
Et  y  aurait-il  eu  "much  effusion,"  si  Penseignement  de  Rossetti 
avait  ete  purement  nominal  ?  Je  lis  dans  le  livre  de  Sharp  :  "  M.  Y. 
Madox  Brown,  to  whom  the  young  artist  (Rossetti)  was  ever 
through  life  willing  to  admit  his  early  indebtedness," — et  plus 
loin,  a  propos  du  Chaucer:  "A  work,  apart  from  its  other  great 
merits,  remarkable  for  being  the  painter's  first  attempt  in  sunlight  ; 
and  from  witnessing  such  work  as  this  no  doubt  in  part  grew  the 
i?npulsc  of  protest  against  artificial  methods  that  afterwards 
animated  the  young  painters  known  as  pre-raphaelities."  Je  lis 
dans  Knight  :  "  The  movement  which  had  been,  in  fact, 
anticipated  by  Madox  Brown  "  ;  et  encore  :  "  He  (Madox  Brown) 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     423 

did  more  to  influence  the  P.R.B.  than  any  others."  Je  trouve, 
dans  Sharp  deja  cite,  cette  opinion  :  "  If  Rossetti  be  considered  the 
father  of  Pre-Raphaelitism,  Madox  Brown  may  be  considered  its 
grandfather."  Chez  Esther  Wood,  cette  autre  opinion:  "Soon 
came  Madox  Brown  to  encourage  their  tentative  efforts,  and  to 
aid  them  (the  P.R.B.)  both  with  practical  and  friendly  instruction" 
Chez  M.  Harry  Quitter,  cette  affirmation  :  "  I  must  show  clearly 
by  the  consideration  of  Madox  Brown's  own  painting  and  the 
records  of  his  own  words  how  irresistible  is  the  evidence  that 
he  was,  in  all  but  name,  the  real  founder  and  leader  of  the 
P.R.B.  movement,  the  inspirer,  as  well  as  the  teacher." 
Enrin,  pour  revenir  a  un  temoin  direct,  immediat,  a  un 
membre  de  la  Brotherhood,  je  lis  chez  M.  F.  G.  Stephens, 
P.R.B.  :  "  Nevertheless,  there  can  be  no  doubt  whatever  that 
to  Brown's  guidance  and  example,  we  owe  the  better  part  of 
Rossetti  as  a  painter  per  se"  (Portfolio,  May  1894).  En 
reduisant  1'education  de  Rossetti  par  Brown  a  quelque  chose  de 
mil  et  department  nominal,  vous  exprimez  done  une  idee  nouvelle, 
une  these  imprevue,  qui  viendra  dementir  tout  ce  que  vos  com- 
patriotes  et,  entres  autres,  vos  anciens  confreres  out  ecrit  sur  la 
matiere.  Je  lirai  les  developpements  de  cette  these  avec  le  plus 
vif  interet,  mais  jusqu'a  ce  qu'elle  se  soit  fait  accepter,  ce  n'est  pas 
moi  seul  qui  suis  "quite  misinformed,"  c'est  tout  le  monde.  Sur 
le  second  point,  qui  est  egalement  un  point  de  fait,  c'est-a-dire  la 
question  de  savoir  si  Madox  Brown  a  ete  sollicite  de  faire  partie  de 
la  Brotherhood,  j'ai  du  egalement  suivre  les  temoignages  nombreux 
et  concordants  que  j'ai  trouves  dans  les  livres.  Ainsi  M.  Knight 
dit  :  "The  only  cause  of  his  (Madox  Brown)  not  becoming  a 
member  of  the  Brotherhood  was  his  disbelief  in  the  advantages  of 
clique."  M.  Sharp  ecrit  :  "  M.  Ford  Madox  Brown,  //  is  well 
known,  refused  membership  on  the  ground  of  scepticism  as  to  the 
utility  of  coteries."  Le  catalogue  de  la  "  National -Gallery,"  de 
1894,  s'exprime  ainsi  :  "Madox  Brown  refused  to  be  enrolled  as  a 
member  of  the  little  clique,"  et  M.  Walter  Armstrong  de  la  sorte  : 
"  Madox  Brown  expressly  declined  membership  on  general  disbelief 
in  its  utility."  Enhn,  M.  G.  F.  Stephens,  que  j'ai  du  croire  bien 
place  pour  savoir  ce  qui  passait  dans  la  Confrerie,  puisqu'il  en 
etait,  a  ecrit  :  "Naturally  enough,  Brown  was  solicited  to  become 
a  Brother,  but  he,  chiefly  because  of  the  rude  principle  which  for 
a  time  was  adopted  by  the  other  painters,  declined  to  join  the 
Societv.  .  .  .''  (G.  F.  Stephens.  Portfolio,  May  1894.) 

Assurement,  Monsieur,  je  ne  cite  pas  tons  ces  temoignages 
pour  les  preferer,  si  nombreux  soient-ils,  a  celui  de  1'auteur  du 
Light  of  the  JJ^orld,  mais  simplement  pour  etablir  que  votre 


424         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

epithete  "quite  misinformed "  s'applique  a  tons  les  historiens  du 
Pre-Raphaelitism  et,  en  particulier,  a  M.  G.  F.  Stephens,  P.R.B. 

Aussi  bien,  ce  ne  sont  la  que  des  questions  historiques,  moins 
importantes  que  la  question  esthetique,  ou  je  ne  vous  opposerai 
d'autre  temoignage  que  le  votre,  persuade  qu'au  fond  nous  sommes 
du  meme  avis.  Assurement  les  P.R.B.  ne  se  sont  pas  de  1'abord 
inspires  de  Work,  mais  je  n'ai  point  parle  de  Work  dans  mon 
article,  et,  pour  qu'il  ne  puisse  y  avoir  aucun  doute,  bien  que  je  le 
connusse,  je  n'en  ai  meme  pas  prononce  le  nom.  J'ai  parle  des 
cartons  de  Westminster.  Or  ceux-ci  auraient  beaucoup  im- 
pressionne  les  futurs  P.R.B.  Vos  souvenirs  en  font  foi  :  "  I  had 
been  content  to  see  M.  Madox  Brown's  works  at  Westminster 
Hall  with  great  silent  recognition  of  the  genius  in  the  picture  of 
Harold,  but  Rossetti  with  more  leisure  had  taken  the  pains  to 
find  him."  (William  Holman  Hunt.  "The  Pre-Raphaelite 
Brotherhood.  A  Fight  for  Art."  Contemporary  Review.] 

Dans  votre  lettre,  vous  qualifiez  cette  ceuvre  de  "wild  "  et  de 
"grotesque."  Je  ne  le  conteste  nullement,  mais  precisement, 
auriez-vous  employe  ces  memes  expressions  s'il  s'etait  agi  du 
tableau  correctement  vulgaire  d'un  academicien  de  1880  r  Et  ce 
"  mannerism  "  que  vous  signalez  dans  Parisina,  etait-ce  le  style 
alors  en  vogue  en  Angleterre  ?  Cette  Justice  "  comical  "  encore 
que  "  distinctly  clever  "  etait-elle  concue  comme  on  concevait  alors 
un  tableau  sous  Maclise  ou  Mulready  ?  Non  assurement.  .  .  . 

ROBERT  DE  LA  SIZERANNE. 

The  writer,  it  is  seen,  perfectly  justified  his  assump- 
tions by  adducing  evidence  from  the  authors  who  have 
written  on  the  subject,  who,  by  their  corroboration  of 
one  another,  could  not  but  convey  the  impression  accepted 
by  him.  Unfortunately  these  various  contributors  to 
history  are  not  independent  witnesses,  as  they  at  first 
appear  to  be,  but  are  dependent  for  their  information 
on  the  "  Brown-Rossetti  "  centre,  and  wrote  under  the 
influence  of  the  same  prepossession  as  these  so-called 
"original  members"  themselves,  wholly  disregarding,  or 
possibly  wholly  ignorant  of  the  facts  established  by  the 
dates  I  have  given.  As  I  confine  my  extracts  to  that 
part  of  M.  de  la  Sizeranne's  letter  concerning  his  own 
justification,  I  ought  to  state  that  he  concludes  with  polite 
encomiums  upon  Millais  and  myself. 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     425 

M.  de  la  Sizeranne  could  not,  of  course,  be  expected 
to  know  the  relative  values  of  the  writers  he  quotes. 
Two  of  them  only  have  any  sort  of  original  value,  Mr. 
W.  Bell  Scott  and  Mr.  F.  G.  Stephens.  The  others 
derive  their  knowledge  from  more  or  less  acquaintance- 
ship with  Rossetti,  or  from  the  printed  writings  of  Mr. 
W.  M.  Rossetti.  Mr.  Knight  would  be  the  last  to  claim 
for  his  casual  pronouncement  on  Rossetti  any  authority 
as  a  critic  of  art.  Mr.  Sharp's  accuracy  of  statement 
and  perception  will  be  referred  to  later,  his  personal 
knowledge  of  Rossetti  was  confined  to  his  later  years, 
and  his  only  importance  is  that  of  reporting  the 

legend  current  in  the   Rossetti  circle  at  a  time  when  we 
o 

and  others  pursuing  the  original  idea  had  long  ago 
marked  our  separation  from  the  mediaevalism  which 
Rossetti  had  confused  with  Pre-Raphaelitism.  The  other 
writers  cited  have  no  first-hand  knowledge  of  the  facts  or 
persons  at  all,  and  their  accuracy  may  be  judged  of  by 
an  extract  from  the  work  of  one  of  the  most  responsible 
among  them  (Mr.  Cook's  excellent  handbook  to  the 
National  Gallery). 

Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti,  the  head  of  the  romantic  movement 
in  modern  English  poetry  and  of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  movement 
in  English  painting,  was  born  in  London,  the  son  of  Gabriel 
Rossetti — -an  Italian  patriot  and  commentator  upon  Dante,  who 
was  at  the  time  Professor  of  Italian  at  King's  College.  Like  all 
the  members  of  his  family,  young  Rossetti  had  innate  taste  and 
interest  in  art,  but  in  the  direction  which  his  art  took — Gothic 
instead  of  Classic — he  was  the  outcome  of  English  influence.  He 
never  doubted,  says  his  friend,  Mr.  Holman  Hunt,  of  his  call  to 
exceptional  effort  in  life,  and  from  the  time  when  he  was  not 
more  than  nineteen  or  twenty  he  began  to  exercise  a  powerful 
influence  on  many  of  the  foremost  minds  in  art  and  literature  of 
the  time,  such  as  Mr.  W.  Morris,  Mr.  Holman  Hunt,  Mr. 
Burne-Jones,  Mr.  Swinburne,  and  Mr.  G.  Meredith.  He  was 
the  leading  spirit  in  the  little  band — comprising,  beside  himself, 
his  brother,  W.  M.  Rossetti,  Millais,  Woolner,  J.  Collinson,  and 
F.  G.  Stephens — who  associated  themselves  under  the  name  of 
"  Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood."  To  the  general  public,  however, 
he  was  little  known  as  a  poet  until  1870,  when  his  poems  and 


426         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

ballads  were  published — or  as  a  painter  till  the  year  after  his 
death,  when  a  collection  of  his  works  were  exhibited  at  Burling- 
ton House — for  he  lived  almost  as  a  recluse  and  seldom  exhibited 
pictures.  From  eight  to  fifteen  he  was  at  King's  College  School. 
He  then  studied  art  ...  in  the  studio  of  Ford  Madox  Brown. 
In  1849  he  exhibited  his  first  oil  picture,  "The  Girlhood  of  the 
Virgin,"  and  in  the  following  year  he  painted  "  Ancilla  Domini." 
His  picture  is  admirably  illustrative  in  its  simplicity  of  the  aims 
of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  School,  whilst  at  the  same  time  it  is  wholly 
free  from  the  affections  peculiar  to  Rossetti  which  characterise 
his  later  works.  Upon  the  originality  of  thought  displayed  in 
this  picture  Mr.  Holman  Hunt  has  expressed  himself  thus  :- 
(Here  follows  a  quotation  from  my  Chelsea  address.) 

Mr.  Cook,  it  will  be  seen,  mixes  up  men  associated 
broadly  together  in  aim,  who  never  met  till  seven  years  or 
so  after  the  initiation  of  our  reform. 

The  quotation  from  Mr.  Bell  Scott  should  certainly 
not  be  read  as  an  isolated  passage,  for  the  next  page  of  his 
book  (288)  gives  the  number  of  the  lessons  so  generously 
afforded  by  Ford  Madox  Brown.  In  Rossetti's  own 
words,  "  He  set  me  to  fag  at  some  still-life  drawing  and 
painting  both  ;  but  I  could  not  stand  that  kind  of  thing, 
and  after  a  time  or  tivo  gave  it  up,  began  the  picture 
beside  Hunt,  and  there  you  saw  me."  Rossetti's  enuncia- 
tion of  the  fewness  of  times  that  he  worked  under  Brown 
was  undoubtedly  an  exaggeration,  yet  his  first  youthful  and 
just  gratitude  for  Brown's  offer  was  quite  properly  not 
limited  in  expression  by  his  inability  fully  to  take  ad- 
vantage of  it.  Surely,  if  ever  obligation  approached  the 
"  purely  nominal,"  it  was  that  which  closed  at  such  an 
elementary  stage,  and  which  was  succeeded  by  a  course 
which  brought  about  the  completion  of  Rossetti's  first 
painting  and  which  directed  him  to  a  new  spirit  of 
design. 

It  is  enough,  however,  to  point  to  the  plain  facts 
which  show  that  Millais  and  I  could  not  have  been  in 
1848  the  followers  of  a  young  man  of  whom  we  scarcely 
knew,  who  only  some  months  afterwards  I  was  teaching 
to  paint,  and  helping  day  by  day,  or  that  we  could  be  the 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     427 

disciples  of  a  painter  whose  tuition  "  after  a  time  or  two  " 
my  pupil  had  given  up,  and  whom  we  did  not  then  know. 
But  I  must  now  account  for  the  growth  of  the  legend  we 
so  long  allowed  to  pass  almost  unquestioned. 

The  rumours  of  Rossetti's  leadership  in  our  reform, 
which  I  have  hitherto  reported  as  coming  to  our  ears, 
were  first  circulated  about  1856,  but  these  were  not 
traceable  to  any  one  with  a  right  to  claim  authority,  and 
neither  Millais  nor  I  regarded  them  as  deserving  attention. 
We  still  felt  this,  even  after  Ruskin  had  delivered  his 
opinion  in  one  of  his  Oxford  lectures,  "  I  believe  Rossetti's 
name  should  be  placed  first  on  the  list  of  men,  within  my 
own  range  of  knowledge,  who  have  raised  and  changed 
the  spirit  of  modern  art,  raised  in  absolute  attainment, 
changed  in  direction  of  temper."  And  again  :  "  Rossetti 
was  the  chief  intellectual  force  in  the  establishment  of  the 
Modern  Romantic  School  in  England."  (A  statement  by 
the  way  which  applies  to  Rossetti  as  a  writer.) 

We  heard  of  this  only  at  second-hand,  and  as  we  both 
felt  that  the  author  had  arrived  at  his  conviction  on 
independent  grounds,  he  was  in  his  just  province  as  a 
critic  in  forming  his  opinion,  and  we  were  the  last  men 
called  upon  to  remonstrate.  The  case  is  different  now 
that  W.  M.  Rossetti  has  repeatedly  declared  his  brother 
to  be  our  leader,  in  writings  which  inadvertently  reveal 
his  want  of  knowledge  as  to  the  real  inspiration  of  Pre- 
Raphaelitism.  Hence  we  must  scrutinise  the  evidence. 
When  asserting,  for  example,  that  his  brother  always 
assumed  the  place  of  priority  in  every  company,  he  alto- 
gether ignores  the  teaching  and  help  which  Gabriel 
acquired  from  my  guidance  and  constant  attention  during 
the  progress  of  "  The  Girlhood  of  the  Virgin."  I  must 

i  O  O 

remind  my  readers  of  what  has  been  already  said,  that 
he  certainly  could  not,  without  my  supervision,  have  had 
any  painting  ready  for  exhibition  in  1849.  W.  M. 
Rossetti's  opinion  of  his  brother's  priority  is  supported  by 
P .  G.  Stephens,  and  the  strength  of  their  double  testimony 
reflected  on  all  hands  may  be  gathered  from  M.  de  la 


428         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Sizeranne's  letter  already  quoted.  The  foundation  of  the 
whole  theory  seems  to  have  been  a  letter  of  Ruskin's 
published  by  William  Rossetti,  who  introduces  it  in 
the  following  terms.  Perhaps  the  first  portion  of  the 
letter  which  is  "torn  off"  would  have  enlightened  us 
still  more. 

The  letter  from  which  1  here  give  an  extract  is  woefully  torn. 
The  first  portion  evidently  replies  to  something  that  Rossetti  had 
written  regarding  Millais  and  Hunt,  and  regarding  his  own  subject 
of  modern  life  in  the  picture  called  "  Found,"  which  work  he  was 
now  inclined  to  lay  aside  on  the  ground  that  Hunt  in  his  picture 
"The  Awakened  Conscience"  (begun  and  finished  at  a  date  later 
than  the  beginning  of  "Found")  had  been  treating  a  modern 
subject  of  somewhat  similar  bearing. 

RUSKIN'S   REPLY  TO  GABRIEL'S  LETTER 

GENEVA,  June  15,  1854. 

I  know  that,  so  far  from  being  envious  of  them,  you  are 
thoroughly  happy  in  their  success  ;  but  yet  you  feel  that  there  is 
as  much  in  vou  as  in  them,  and  you  have  a  kind  of  gnawing  pain 
at  not  standing  side  by  side  with  them.  You  feel  as  if  it  were 
not  worth  while  now  to  bring  out  your  modern  subjects  as  Hunt 
has  done  his  first.  Now  as  to  the  suggestion  of  the  power  which 
there  is  in  modern  life  if  honestly  treated,  I  firmly  believe  that  to 
whomsoever  it  may  belong  in  priority  of  time,  it  belongs  to  all 
three  of  you  rightly  in  right  of  possession.  I  think  that  you, 
Hunt,  and  Millais  would,  every  one  of  you,  have  made  the 
discovery  without  assistance  or  suggestion  from  the  other.  One 
might  be  quicker  or  slower  than  another,  and  I  suppose  that 
actually  you  were  the  first  who  did  it.  But  it  would  have  been 
impossible  for  men  of  such  eyes  and  hearts  as  Millais  and  Hunt 
to  walk  the  streets  of  London,  or  watch  the  things  that  pass  each 
day,  and  not  to  discover  also  what  there  was  in  them — something 
to  be  shown  and  painted. 

This  letter  offers  the  first  piece  of  published  evidence 
emanating  distinctly  from  Gabriel  himself  for  claim  of 
"  leadership  "  in  any  respect.  The  suggestion  that  my 
picture  of  "  The  Awakened  Conscience  "  was  anticipated  in 
idea  by  the  design  of"  Found  "  (for  W.  M.  Rossetti  asserts 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     429 

that  the  former  was  "begun  and  finished  at  a  later  date  than 
the  beginning  of  '  Found  '  ")  seems  to  convey  a  charge  of 
plagiarism  on  my  part,  so  it  is  needful  to  enter  into  the 
exact  facts  of  the  evolution  of  my  design. 

Rossetti,  it  is  obvious,  assumes  that  he  was  the  origin- 
ator of  the  general  motive  of  pity  for  the  fallen  embodied 
in  "The  Awakened  Conscience."  It  may  be  remembered 
that  in  1850,  outraged  with  the  difficulties  of  working 
from  ever-changing  foliage  in  Sevenoaks  Park,  he  returned 
to  our  lodgings  and  set  to  work  on  a  design  from  Philip 
•van  Artevelde. 

Sang  mouth  of  neither  wife  nor  maid 
To  heart  of  neither  maid  nor  wife  ; 
Lead  we  not  here  a  jolly  life, 
Between  the  sunshine  and  the  shade. 

The  embodiment  of  the  idea  proved  so  far  difficult 
that  he  gave  up  the  unfinished  drawings,  and  we  heard  no 
more  at  that  time  of  the  subject.  When  "  The  Light  of 
the  World  "  was  on  my  easel  at  Chelsea  in  1851,  it  occurred 
to  me  that  my  spiritual  subject  called  for  a  material 
counterpart  in  a  picture  representing  in  actual  life  the 
manner  in  which  the  appeal  of  the  spirit  of  heavenly 
love  calls  a  soul  to  abandon  a  lower  life.  In  reading 
David  Copperfield  I  had  been  deeply  touched  by  the 
pathos  of  the  search  by  old  Peggotty  after  little  Emily, 
when  she  had  become  an  outcast,  and  I  went  about  to 
different  haunts  of  fallen  girls  to  find  a  locality  suitable 
for  the  scene  of  the  old  manner's  pursuing  love.  My 
object  was  not  to  illustrate  any  special  incident  in  the  book, 
but  to  take  the  suggestion  ot  the  loving  seeker  of  the 
fallen  girl  coming  upon  the  object  of  his  search.  I  spoke 
freely  of  this  intended  subject,  but,  while  cogitating  upon 
the  broad  intention,  I  reflected  that  the  instinctive  eluding 
of  pursuit  by  the  erring  one  would  not  coincide  with  the 

willing  conversion  and  instantaneous  resolve  for  a  hip-her 

~ .  " 

life  which  it  was  necessary  to  emphasise. 

While  recognising  this,  I  fell  upon  the  text  in  Proverbs, 


4jo         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

"  As  he  that  taketh  away  a  garment  in  cold  weather,  so  is 
he  that  singeth  songs  to  a  heavy  heart."  These  words, 
expressing  the  unintended  stirring  up  of  the  deeps  of  pure 
affection  by  the  idle  sing-song  of  an  empty  mind,  led  me 
to  see  how  the  companion  of  the  girl's  fall  might  himself 
be  the  unconscious  utterer  of  a  divine  message.  In 

D 

scribbles  I  arranged  the  two  figures  to  present  the  woman 
recalling  the  memory  of  her  childish  home,  and  breaking 
away  from  her  gilded  cage  with  a  startled  holy  resolve, 
while  her  shallow  companion  still  sings  on,  ignorantly 
intensifying  her  repentant  purpose. 

I  explained  my  rough  design  to  my  good  friend 
Augustus  Egg  amongst  others,  and  shortly  after  he  told 
me  that  Mr.  Thomas  Fairbairn  had  been  greatly  interested 
in  the  thought,  and  had  expressed  a  desire  that  I  should 
paint  the  picture  for  him. 

I  gladly  undertook  the  commission.  I  cannot  dis- 
tinctly remember  that  I  told  Rossetti  of  all  these  fluctua- 
tions of  thought,  although  it  would  have  been  natural  to 
do  so.  It  never  struck  me  that  these  ideas  had  anything 
to  do  with  Rossetti's  relinquished  mediaeval  design.  He 
had  not  been  the  first  to  represent  a  girl  saddened  by 
the  thought  of  her  folly,  for  Millais  had  done  two  or 
three  pen  -  and  -  ink  designs  illustrating  unconsecrated 
passion  in  modern  life.  Hogarth,  Greuze,  Northcote, 
and  many  others  had  treated  the  theme  in  moods 
widely  differing,  and  I  never  suspected  that  Rossetti 
could  claim  a  monopoly  in  the  expression  of  piteous  sym- 
pathy for  the  victim  of  folly.  But  he  seems  soon  to  have 
set  to  work  to  complete  his  illustration  to  Philip  van 
Artevehle,  and  by  way  of  publishing  his  claim,  inscribed 
the  margin  with  the  declaration  that  the  design  had  been 
commenced  in  1850  and  completed  in  1853,  and  that  it 
was  given  by  him  to  his  P.R.  brother,  F.  G.  Stephens. 
This  was  three  years  after  we  had,  for  good  reason,  given 
up  the  use  of  the  monogram. 

Ruskin's  letter  is  of  the  more  importance,  as  it  dates 
the  beginning  of  Rossetti's  new  pretensions,  and  coincides 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     431 

with  Woolner's  report  of  Rossetti's  claim  that  he  was  the 
leader  in  our  reform,  which  provoked  Woolner's  ridicule, 
and  so  caused  the  final  separation  between  them. 

In  1851  Millais  had  painted  his  century-seasoned  wall 
in  "The  Huguenot."  Up  to  1853  Rossetti  had  not  done 
anything  in  strict  accordance  with  our  exact  study  of  out- 
door nature.  He  had  not  attempted  hitherto  to  give  the 
truth  at  first-hand  to  such  accessories.  The  first  indica- 
tion of  such  a  desire  is  in  a  letter  to  his  mother,  then 
staying  at  Frome,  which  shows  a  sudden  resolve  to  follow 
Nature  without  any  compromise  in  the  details  of  his  picture 
of  "  Found  "  :— 

LETTER  TO  HIS  MOTHER 

September  30,  18^3. 

Have  y°u  or  Christina  any  recollection  of  an  eligible  and 
accessible  brick  wall  ?  I  should  want  to  set  up  and  paint  it  early 
in  the  mornings,  as  the  light  ought  to  be  that  of  dawn.  It  should 
be  not  too  countrified  (yet  beautiful  in  colour),  as  it  is  to  re- 
present a  city  wall.  A  certain  modicum  of  moss  would  therefore 
be  admissible,  but  no  prodigality  of  grass,  weeds,  ivy,  etc.  .  .  . 
I  suppose  Christina's  pictorial  eye  will  by  this  time  have  some 
insight  into  the  beauties  of  brick  walls. 

"  The  Awakened  Conscience  "  was  finished  in  January 
and  exhibited  in  May  1854.  Brown,  in  his  Diary,1 
November  i  of  1854,  shows  that  "Found"  was  then 
only  just  begun  ;  and  not  having  had  Gabriel  under  his 
guidance  for  five  years,  he  was  surprised,  and  speaks 
unapprovingly  of  his  former  pupil's  manner  of  work  in 
painting  the  calf,  etc.,  but  he  records  no  attempt  to  enforce 
mastership,  which  he  would  have  done  had  not  Gabriel's 
docility  in  practice  been  regarded  as  altogether  broken  off. 
In  any  case.,  I  can  aver  that  neither  Gabriel  nor  any  of  our 
circle  ever  said  a  word  to  me  about  his  design  of  "  Found  " 
until  after  my  return  from  Syria  in  1856,  and  even  then 
no  more  had  been  done  to  it  than  the  painting  of  the  cart 
and  calf  and  a  few  other  accessories.  The  diary  kept  by 

1   Published  by  W.  M.  Rossetti. 


432 


PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 


Brown  at  Finchley  in  the  last  months  of  1854  sheds  direct 
illumination  on  facts  which  touch  to  the  quick  the  question 
of  Gabriel's  claim  to  have  been  the  leader  both  in  my 


personal    question    and    the    general    one    oi"   our    reform. 
The  entry  runs  :— 

November  I,  1854. — We  went  after  his  calf,  and  succeeded   to 
a  miracle. 

November    12,    1854.  —  Gabriel    gone    to    town    to    see    Miss 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     433 

Siddal.  Getting  on  slowly  with  his  calf.  He  paints  it  in  all 
like  Albert  Durer,  hair  by  hair,  and  seems  incapable  of  any 
breadth  ;  but  this  he  will  get  by  going  over  it  from  feeling  at 
home.  From  want  of  habit,  I  see  Nature  bothers  him,  but  it  is 
sweetly  drawn  and  felt.  .  .  . 

November  27,  1854. — Saw  Gabriel's  calf;  very  beautiful,  but 
takes  a  long  time.  Endless  emendations  ;  no  perceptible  progress 
from  day  to  day,  and  all  the  time  he  wearing  my  greatcoat,  which 
I  want,  and  a  pair  of  my  breeches,  besides  food  and  an  unlimited 
supply  of  turpentine.  .  .  . 

By  the  whole  passage  it  will  be  seen,  with  other 
suggestions  most  distinctly  enunciated,  that  Rossetti  was 
painting  in  a  manner  foreign  to  that  prescribed  by  Brown. 
The  latter's  influence,  therefore,  was  put  aside  in  the 
direction  which  Millais  and  I  had  been  condemned  for 
taking  five  years  before.  From  whom  else  had  Rossetti 
obtained  the  resolution  to  go  to  Nature  for  every  feature 
of  a  picture,  and  to  paint  it  in  the  most  direct  and  finished 
manner  ?  It  was  precisely  what  I  had  tried  to  induce 
him  to  do  in  my  studio  in  1 849,  and  again  at  Sevenoaks 
in  1850. 

When  Rossetti  first  came  to  be  taught  by  me, 
the  background  of  my  "  Rienzi "  had  all  its  land- 
scape painted  from  Nature  ;  and,  as  I  proceeded,  Brown 
on  his  visits  often  uttered  satirical  pleasantries  on  the 
"microscopic"  vegetation,  and  also  on  the  armour  and 
details,  as  these  were  gradually  added.  The  scrupulous 
humility  with  which  Millais  and  I  were  disciplining  our- 
selves we  had  continued  ever  since,  and  had  enforced 
attention  to  this  purpose  in  all  our  exhibited  works. 
Either  Rossetti  derived  his  manner  from  us,  or,  if  he 
invented  it,  it  was  five  years  after  the  practice  had  been 
invented  by  us. 

I  must  take  this  opportunity  of  expressing  my  surprise 
that  my  ever  esteemed  friend  W.  M.  Rossetti  allowed  him- 
self to  publish  without  submitting  to  me  the  unfounded 
nonsense  which  Brown  persuaded  himself  Gabriel  had  told 
him  about  my  having  been  employed  when  about  thirteen 

VOL.    II  2    F 


434         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

at  one  of  "  these  league  bread-shops."  I  cannot  claim 
the  credit  of  having  risen  from  such  a  humble  position 
as  that  which  this  legend  would  suggest.  When  a  poor 
sinner  is  dead  and  buried  any  absurd  fables  to  which  an 
idle  word  may  have  given  rise  have  to  go  uncontradicted, 
and  be  handed  down  as  unquestioned  history,  but  while  he 
remains  still  breathing  he  certainly  should  be  consulted  by 
any  one  pretending  to  publish  truth  as  to  the  origin  of 
any  absurd  improbability.  Since  this  statement  is  given 
on  the  authority  of  friends  with  whom  I  was  closely  allied 
when  the  diary  was  written  in  1854,  I  cannot  let  it  pass 
without  distinct  contradiction.  I  confess  that  I  do  not  yet 
know  what  a  "  league  bread-shop  "  means.  The  same  diary 
goes  on  to  report  a  meeting  of  Brown  with  Millais  and 
Collins  at  the  house  of  Mr.  Seddon.  He  says  :— 

April  17,  1855. — To  Seddon's  to  meet  Millais,  Rossetti,  and 
Collins.  Conversation  between  Seddon,  Millais,  and  Collins 
highly  moral  and  religious  ;  they  of  opinion  that  no  really  good 
man  is  ever  unsuccessful  in  life.  If  he  dies  and  leaves  a  wife  and 
fifteen  children  they  are  sure  to  be  well  provided  for,  and  he  not 
to  bother  about  it,  Millais  citing  as  instances  two  examples  to  the 
contrary  of  irreligious  men  going  to  the  dogs. 

I  have  little  doubt  that  Brown  was  setting  forth  some 
of  his  extreme  revolutionary  ideas,  and  that  Millais  took 
occasion  to  suggest  to  him  how  the  parade  of  such  views 
stood  in  his  way  with  his  fellow-men,  and  that  "going  to 
church  "  was  merely  a  typical  example  of  sober  and  orderly 
procedure.  It  is  entertaining  to  note  that  Brown's  diary  on 
the  next  day,  being  Good  Friday,  has  "  Went  to  church  " ! 

William  Rossetti  goes  on  to  champion  Brown's  anterior 
claim  ;  speaking  of  the  Free  Exhibition,  he  writes  : — "  Its 
first  year,  1848  "  (that  is,  a  year  before  our  pictures  with 
the  P.R.B.  on  them  appeared  at  the  Royal  Academy),  "had 
been  distinguished  by  the  display  of  Madox  Brown's  highly 
interesting  and  important  painting,  '  WicklifFe  reading 
his  Translation  of  the  New  Testament  to  John  of  Gaunt,' 
a  painting  which,  in  its  bright  but  rather  pale  colouring, 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     435 

lightness  of  surface,  and  general  feeling  of  quietism,  had 
beyond  a  doubt  served  in  some  respect  to  mould  the  ideas 
and  beacon  the  practice  of  the  P.R.B.'s."  If  this  estimate 
of  the  work  and  its  influence  had  been  really  justified  it 
was  more  wonderful  than  even  its  proclaimer  of  precedence 
thinks,  for  I  never  spared  the  precious  time  to  go  to  Hyde 
Park  Corner  to  see  it,  and  I  am  sure  Millais  did  not. 
What  I  thought  of  the  picture  as  to  its  artificial  com- 
position when  first  I  saw  it  in  Brown's  studio  I  have  already 
explained  ;  as  to  its  colour,  I  have  a  distinct  remembrance 
that  it  struck  me  as  being  harmonious  and  pleasant  in  a 
decorative  sense,  but  as  to  natural  truth  much  wanting  in 
solidity — the  hues  being  those  of  gelatinous  matter  if  not 
of  stained  glass,  rather  than  of  substances  absorbing  some 
rays  and  reflecting  others. 

Brown  was  naturally  reluctant  to  acknowledge  his 
conversion  to  views  introduced  by  men  several  years  his 
junior,  yet  after  his  astonishment  at  the  perfection  of 
Millais'  Keats  picture  in  1849,  wnen  ne  had  got  free 
from  other  work,  he  began  his  sweet  little  painting  of 
"Waiting"  in  1853,  which,  after  many  years'  retouching, 
was  more  exquisitely  detailed  than  anything  he  had  hitherto 
done — more  so,  indeed,  than  any  of  his  pictures  of  later 
years.  It  has  already  been  shown  how  his  picture  of 
4'  Christ  washing  Peter's  Feet  "  was  a  new  departure  on  a 
method  of  work  openly  derived  from  us  ; l  and  his  picture 
of  "  Work,"  begun  in  1852,  is  shown  to  have  been  con- 
ducted, in  the  painting  of  the  landscape,  on  the  plan  which 
we  had  inaugurated  of  working  frankly  on  the  canvas  itself 
from  Nature,  which  neither  he  nor  any  other  figure-painter 
before  us  had  attempted. 

The  Diary  thus  examined  proves  to  be  a  wonderful 
confirmation  of  the  other  evidence  that  neither  Rossetti 
nor  Brown  were  originators  of  our  reform.  Rossetti's 

1  Sec  F.  M.  Brown's  Life,  by  Ford  M.  Hueffer,  p.  77.  Brown  did  nor 
always  appreciate  the  motives  of  his  friends  when  they  attempted  to  serve  him. 
See  his  reference  in  his  Diarv  to  "  Millais'  lying  instigation  "  (Pre-Raphaelite 
Diaries).  It  may  be  assumed  that  this  diary  was  not  meant  for  his  friend's 
inspection. 


436         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

picture  "  Found  "  was  left  at  the  last  altogether  incomplete, 
for  no  other  reason  than  his  want  of  enduring  interest  in 
the  theme,  which  he  certainly  would  not  have  lacked,  had 
it  sincerely  represented  his  own  natural  sentiment.  If 
Rossetti  had,  whilst  participating  in  our  close  alliance, 
once  indulged  the  ambition  to  play  the  part  of  leader  with 
which  his  brother  credits  him,  there  would  have  been 
instantly  a  dissolution  of  our  Brotherhood,  at  least  of 
the  active  members.  The  comparison  of  dates  with  the 
evidence  from  Brown's  Diary  should  convince  any  one  who 
wishes  to  arrive  at  the  truth  as  to  the  order  in  which  the 
members  of  our  circle  influenced  one  another. 

The  design  of  Rossetti's  "  Girlhood  of  the  Virgin  "  was 
of  Overbeck  revivalist  character,  which  no  superintendence 
of  mine  as  to  the  manner  of  painting  could  much  affect, 
and  his  "Annunciation"  still  reflected  Brown's  early 
Christian  phase.  The  more  thorough  realisation  of  form 
and  freer  painting  of  these  works,  while  conferring  a 
naive  charm  on  them,  did  not  make  them  fundamentally 
Pre-Raphaelite  in  character.  The  first  painting  designed 
by  Rossetti,  and  begun  in  accordance  with  our  aims,  was 
undoubtedly  "  Found." 

The  more  sensuous  phase  of  taste  developed  in 
Rossetti's  later  period  was  of  hothouse  fancifulness,  and 
breathed  disdain  for  the  robust,  out-of-door  growth  of 
native  Pre-Raphaelitism.  I  have  seen  statements  that  the 
difference  between  the  works  of  Millais  and  myself,  as 
opposed  to  the  Rossetti  school,  arose  only  from  our 
inability  to  ascend  to  the  fuller  purpose  of  the  third 
member  of  our  Brotherhood. 

The  question  of  pre-eminence  of  production  is  not  for 
me  but  for  posterity.  My  business  is  to  prove  that  what 
Rossetti  did  was  a  divergence  from  our  aims.  Some  light 
on  the  persistency  of  the  opposite  contention  may  appear 
when  it  is  understood  that  neither  W.  M.  Rossetti  nor 
F.  G.  Stephens  ever  grasped  Pre-Raphaelitism,  and  their 
attitude  fostered  much  of  the  suspicion  and  enmity  which 
met  us  at  the  outset  of  our  activity. 


xv       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     437 

As  W.  M.  Rossetti  and  Stephens  have  repeatedly  stated 
that  they  were  de  facto  members  of  the  P.R.B.  and  have 
not  been  contradicted,  it  is  natural  that  the  public  should 
assume  that  they  knew  all  the  circumstances  of  the  time. 
W.  M.  Rossetti  treats  the  matter  as  though  in  our  first 
intention  they  had  not  been  required  to  become  practical 
artists.  Had  we  not  originally  required  excellence  in  art 
as  a  qualification  for  P.R.B.  membership,  we  should  not 
have  chosen  the  name  of  Raphael  to  mark  the  boundary 
line  of  progressive  and  decadent  art  ;  Pre-Machiavellian, 
Pre-Dantesque,  or  Pre-Aretinesque  would  have  been  more 
appropriate  names. 

When  after  a  year  or  so  we,  the  active  members,  saw 
that  the  majority  of  the  seven  only  talked,  indeed  often  in 
misconception  of  the  objects  of  our  Brotherhood,  all  that 
could  be  done  by  us  was  to  discontinue  keeping  up  an 
outward  show  of  combination,  by  ceasing  to  convene  or 
attend  official  meetings.  It  was  natural  that  their  neglect 
of  daily  experiment  in  work  should  be  followed  by  absence 
of  interest  in  new  questions  of  practice,  and  we  therefore 
ceased  to  speak  to  them  in  confidence,  and  soon  their 
revelations  proved  how  thoroughly  ignorant  they  remained 
of  the  ideals  towards  which  we  directed  our  steps. 


CHAPTER    XVI 


RETROSPECT 

There  is  a  haughty  courage,  an  elevation  of  thought,  a  greatness  of 
taste,  a  love  of  liberty,  a  simplicity  and  honesty  amongst  us,  which  we 
inherit  from  our  ancestors,  and  which  belong  to  us  as  Englishmen  ;  .  .  . 
I  will  only  instance  Shakespeare  and  Milton,  the  one  for  dramatic,  the 
other  for  epic  poetry,  and  leave  them  to  seat  themselves  at  the  table  of 
fame  amongst  the  most  illustrious  of  the  ancients.  A  time  may  come 
when  the  future  writers  may  be  able  to  add  the  name  of  an  English 
painter. — JONATHAN  RICHARDSON,  1792,  p.  92. 

Alas,  it  is  not  with  the  weapons  of  argument,  but  with  those  of 
jealousy  and  abuse  that  the  battle  is  fought,  when  any  contest  arises 
about  poetry. — ERASMUS. 

.   .   .  That  pioneer  their  kind, 
And  break  a  pathway  to  those  unknown  realms, 
That  in  the  earth's  broad  shadow  lie  enthralled  ; 

It  is  God's  day,  it  is  Columbus's. 

A  lavish  day  !      One  day,  with  life  and  heart, 

Is  more  than  time  enough  to  find  a  world. 

J.  RUSSELL  LOVVKLL. 

IN  the  Contemporary  Re-view  it  was  needful  to  show  that 
beyond  Millais,  Rossetti,  Woolner,  and  myself,  the  others 
did  not  demand  mention.  But  by  way  of  saving  the 
susceptibility  of  the  lapsed  members,  I  dwelt  upon  the 
case  of  Collinson,  who,  although  a  practical  painter,  could 
be  cited  as  one  not  of  a  nature  to  enter  into  our  fight. 
These  sleeping  brothers  still  continue,  however,  to  cry 
out  "  We  are  seven  !  " 

Nurses  look  forward   to  the  time  when  infants  begin 
"  to  take  notice,"  some  infants  there  are  who  go  beyond 

438 


CH.XVI  PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD   439 

the  stage  of  babyhood  without  developing  this  instinct, 
some  indeed  (otherwise  of  great  ability)  go  through  life 
without  the  power  of  observation,  in  fact  men,  with  a 
consuming  faith  that  they  have  nothing  to  learn,  never 
acquire  this  useful  faculty.  Yet  it  may  be  seen  that  many 
such  collect  the  records  of  others,  handing  them  on,  perhaps 
unconsciously,  as  observations  of  their  own.  Only  thus 
can  we  explain  the  errata  of  the  voluble  novices  of  our 
Brotherhood. 

I  am  now  bound  to  examine  salient  examples  of 
their  misinterpretation  of  P.R.B.  purpose.  W.  M. 
Rossetti  writes  : — "  One  of  the  original  drawings  and 
slight  paintings  done  under  Brown's  eye  by  D.  G. 
Rossetti  early  in  1848,  and  already  referred  to  as  a 
drawing  of  a  long  narrow  shape,  in  body  colour  barely  a 
little  tinted,  with  a  plain  gilt  ground  ;  it  represents  a 
young  woman,  auburn-haired,  standing  with  joined  hands. 
The  face  seems  to  be  a  reminiscence  of  Christina  Rossetti, 
but  the  nose  is  unduly  long  :  the  drapery  is  delicately  felt 
and  done,  and  the  whole  thing  has  a  forecast  of  the  Pre- 
Raphaelite  manner."  This  study,  like  the  copy  he  did 
under  Brown's  direction,  was  of  the  true  German  revivalist 
style,  one  of  the  mannerisms  which  Millais  and  I  had  set 
ourselves  directly  to  oppose.  William  Rossetti  goes  on  : 
— "  Hunt's  picture  as  yet  had  no  distinctly  Pre-Raphaelite 
quality.  Millais'  were  quite  in  the  contrary  line."  He 
should  have  added  to  his  true  judgment  on  the  past  that 
Hunt,  however  much  he  may  be  thought  wanting  in  this 
respect,  never  did  at  any  later  time  work  in  this  spirit — 
neither  did  Millais,  as  any  discriminating  person  must  see. 

In  his  words  above,  W.  M.  Rossetti  gives  evidence  of 
the  erroneous  idea  of  the  Pre-Raphaelite  purpose,  and  that 
he  still  retains  this  perverted  notion.  According  to  him 
our  discovery  was  of  a  road  already  traversed  by  certain 
affected  Germans,  and  among  English  with  different  lines 
of  divergences,  by  Herbert,  Maclise,  Dyce,  and  others. 
Pioneers  do  not  find  lodgings  already  prepared  for  them  ! 
That  he  cannot  assign  our  work  to  any  established  school 


44o          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

is  proof  that  we  were  not  wayfarers  lodging  at  an  inn,  but 
explorers  of  the  unknown. 

Thus  true  P.R.B.-ism  was  not  recognised  by  him  from 
the  first,  and  a  surreptitious  bantling  was  honoured  in  its 
place.  So  far  for  the  fact  alone,  the  inference  from 
which  is  that  his  testimony  of  the  influence  of  one 
member  of  the  brotherhood  upon  another  loses  all  value. 

The  same  old  comrade  makes  an  amusing  claim  for  Mr. 
F.  G.  Stephens'  right  to  full  membership  when  he  says, 
"  Mr.  Stephens  had  a  great  liking  for  the  early  schools  of 
Art,  Italian  and  other.  Possibly  his  knowledge  of  the 
Italian  schools  exceeded  that  of  any  other  P.R.B.,  and  so 
far  he  might  reasonably  be  called  a  Pre-Raphaelite." 
Certainly  Mr.  Stephens  always  seconded  the  movement 
for  modern  Gothic,  and  accordingly  sympathised  with 
Rossetti's  revivalism,  and  encouraged  the  unobservant  to 
be  blind  to  the  constant  negation  of  mediasvalism  in  every 
point  of  our  work. 

Millais  and  I  regarded  contemporary  Gothicism  as  a 
deadly  blight  upon  the  fair  blossom  of  advancing  taste, 
seeing  it  was  causing  destruction  to  edifices  of  vital  beauty 
and  past  history,  while  to  the  artist  it  was  paralysing  all 
inventive  genius.  These  two  "fellow-members"  were,  in 
fact,  from  the  first  noisily  contentious  for  their  own 
prejudices,  and,  at  the  same  time,  stirred  up  needless  strife 
against  the  true  cause  and  ourselves.  It  is  impossible 
to  exaggerate  the  injury  thus  suffered.  The  resolve  of 
Millais  and  myself  in  1848  to  join  in  the  search  for  new 
possibilities  in  art  was  of  a  strictly  peaceful  nature,  and  if 
we  decided  upon  a  monogram  on  our  pictures  as  a  mark 
of  union,  it  was  only  as  a  bond  to  one  another  ;  we 
had  no  pictures  ready  for  such  distinctive  sign  until 
the  formation  of  the  Brotherhood,  which  necessitated 
addition  of  the  third  letter  of  our  fateful  cabalistic  sign. 
Our  new  ideals,  although  distinct,  were  not  intended  as  an 
inimical  affront  to  existent  artists ;  we  tacitly  pleaded  with 
our  elders  for  toleration  of  our  new  experiment ;  in  truth 
we  were  possessed  with  a  sense  of  indebtedness  to  the 


xvi      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD      441 

Academy  at  large,  and  reverence  for  certain  of  its 
members.  That  many  of  the  original  provisions  of  the 
Royal  Academy  foundation  needed  serious  rectification 
was  not  at  that  time  our  business.  Until  the  meaning  of 
our  innocent  monogram  was  revealed,  and  contemptuous 
epithets  were  levelled  by  our  new  members  at  the  established 
dignitaries  of  our  profession,  no  serious  sign  of  hostility 
appeared  against  us  ;  in  fact,  as  I  have  instanced,  I  met 
with  much  friendly  appreciation  among  the  heads  of 
the  profession,  and  it  is  possible  that  we  might  have  won 
general  welcome  among  the  authorities  of  the  time,  and 
from  the  outside  public,  had  we  pursued  our  original 
purpose  quietly.  It  is  stultifying  in  writing  a  history  of 
Pre-Raphaelitism  to  be  compelled  to  avow  that  our  im- 
pulsively formed  Brotherhood  was  a  tragic  failure  almost 
from  the  beginning,  and  that  we  became  the  victims  of  the 
indiscretions  of  our  allies.  Youthful  hope  at  first  pre- 
vented us  from  being  oppressed  by  the  thought  of  the 
enduring  character  of  the  penalty  incurred,  and  we  fought 
still  for  the  precious  kernel  of  our  broken  shell  ;  but  our 
professed  coadjutors  kept  alive  the  strife,  and  those  assailed 
looked  upon  us  as  the  promoters  of  strife.  Many  of  the 
Academicians  who  had  been  distinctly  friendly  towards  us  as 
young  exhibitors  were  now  persuaded  that  we  entertained 
contempt  and  hostility  towards  the  whole  of  their  Body. 

Miss  Christina  Rossetti's  sonnet  has  already  been 
quoted.1  Samples  of  Mr.  F.  G.  Stephens'  criticisms  and 
remarks  when  he  was  writing  in  the  Critic  we  will  not 
trouble  to  examine  ;  but  after  his  appointment  on  the 
Athencfum  in  July  1859,  war  was  at  once  declared  against 
the  Royal  Academy  and  its  members.  This  was  marked 
by  a  letter,  "  from  a  correspondent,"  headed  "  The  Crimes 
of  the  Academy,"  which  in  its  rhetoric  was  exalted  at  times 
to  the  finest  frenzy  : — 

Has  this  wealthy  and  fattening  body  done  its  duty  to  English 
art  ?     No.      It  has  always  been  the  patron  of  mediocrity  and  the 

1   Chapter  iv. 


442          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

enemy  of  genius.  Are  not  all  the  deaths  from  suicide,  starvation, 
or  broken  heart,  of  poor  and  neglected  English  artists  of  genius, 
ever  since  the  presidency  of  Reynolds,  to  be  laid  at  its  door  ?  If 
a  corporation  has  no  soul  and  no  future,  at  least  it  ought  to  expiate 
the  sins  of  its  earlier  days.  Should  not  its  paid  functionaries,  its 
coach-builders,  and  snuff-box  chasers,  and  miniature-painters,  in- 
stead of  accumulating  useless  money  unjustly  got,  have  devoted 
themselves  to  searching  everywhere  for  stifling  and  neglected 
genius,  and  when  it  has  fallen  among  thieves,  should  it  not  have 
bound  up  its  wounds  and  carried  it  from  the  roadside  to  the  inn 
of  charity,  to  the  country  of  charter  and  monopoly  that  flows  with 
milk  and  honey  ?  No,  the  ghastly  razor  did  its  duty  ;  starva- 
tion's throttling  hand  wreaked  its  malice  ;  the  terrible  pistol  shot 
pierced  the  young  brain  ;  the  dying  hand  ripped  the  hated  canvas 
year  after  year,  often  within  a  few  hundred  feet  from  where  those 
pompous,  bloated,  cauliflower-wigged  mediocrities  called  R.A.'s 
sat  at  their  groaning  tables.  Slandering  the  absent,  slavering  the 
present,  and  believing  themselves  the  be-all  and  end-all  of  Art.  Is 
there  one  instance  where  the  Academy  had  held  out  its  hand  to  the 
poor  sinner,  sinking,  worn  out  with  the  long  buffeting  in  the 
Black  Sea  ?  Did  those  silver  buckled  feet  ever  mount  the  greasy 
steps  to  a  poor  man's  garret  ?  Did  those  gilded  coaches  of  your 
Mosers  and  Wiltons,  your  -  -  and  -  — ,  ever  stop  to  take  up 
the  Lazarus  of  art  as  he  lay  at  their  gate  full  of  sores  ?  Never, 
because  rich  mediocrity  in  place  and  power  always  did  and  always 
will  hate  and  detest  the  very  name  of  originality,  novelty,  and 
genius. 

I  will  now  stop  to  analyse  how  this  great,  brainless,  ruthless 
Body  was  scarcely  in  being  before  it  began  to  crush  Barry,  to 
insult  Reynolds,  to  despise  Wilson.  We  all  know  how  it  neglected 
Blake,  hated  Hay  don,  and  let  poor  Morland  die  in  a  sponging-house  ; 
shall  these  crimes  be,  and  yet  no  vengeance,  no  sentence  of  con- 
demnation on  a  body  which  has  kept  art  in  chains  now  so  large 
a  part  of  a  century  ? 

Let  us  take  a  few  of  the  less  well-known  crimes  of  the 
Academy,  crimes  of  omission — the  crimes  of  commission  would  fill 
an  encyclopaedia. 

First  the  case  of  Toms,  Reynolds'  assistant  .   .   .  etc.,  etc. 

This    letter    left    us   all    open    to    suspicion    as   to  its 

authorship.       Following    this    there   appeared   attacks  on 

members'    pictures    which    far    exceeded    the    bounds  of 

critical    convention.       These  can   be  found   if  needed  by 


xvr      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     443 

the  inquisitive.     A  few  extracts  from  a  "gossip"  column 
will  sufficiently  illustrate  the  humour  of  the  writer. 
In  July  1859  appeared  :— 

In  Maclise  we  still  see  the  result  of  colourless  chalk  drawing, 
and  the  results  of  gold  medal  draughtsmanship. 

In  a  book  on  Living  Painters,  by  a  writer  unknown  to 
us,  the  following  encomium  on  my  "  Claudio  and  Isabella  " 
was  found  :— 

His  back  is  towards  the  prison  window,  and  out  in  the  summer 
light  there  are  flowers  and  life.  His  guitar,  with  its  scarlet  ribbon, 
hangs  in  the  sunshine.  The  face  is  turned  towards  you — and 
such  a  face  !  He  is  young,  and  loves  the  world  ;  his  mouth  is 
the  mouth  for  love,  and  a  brow,  a  brow  for  pleasure  garlands  ;  and 
that  whole  face  tells  us  of  weakness  and  self-love.  He  is  blind 
to  those  sweet,  stern  eyes  that  gaze  into  his  very  soul,  and  see  the 
craven  fear  that  cowers  there.  To  him  death  is  the  fearful  thing 
— to  her  it  is  the  shamed  life  that  alone  has  terror.  How  in  his 
bewildered  fearfulness  he  fingers  the  chain  that  fetters  him  to  the 
wall  !  To  loosen  that  at  any  price — anyhow  to  get  away  from 
that.  The  colour  is  glorious,  so  fine  that  the  poor  frames  that 
neighbour  it  seem  to  enclose  mud  by  comparison. 

Considering  all  the  conditions  of  Mr.  Stephens'  rela- 
tions to  us,  and  the  well-nigh  general  hostility  of  the  Press 
towards  Pre-Raphaelite  works,  it  might  have  been  reason- 
able to  pass  over  this  stranger's  opinion  in  silence,  had 
his  superior  judgment  prevented  him  from  endorsing  it, 
but  his  sense  of  duty  to  the  public  prompted  him  to  issue  a 
review  of  the  book  as  follows  :— 

Mr.  W.  Hunt's  "  Claudio  and  Isabella,"  a  beautiful  but  affected 
picture,  and  verging,  as  serious  men's  works  are  apt  to  do,  on  the 
ludicrous.  .  .  .  The  antiquarianism  in  this  picture,  drawn  from  a 
painful  and  jarring  play,  was  not  thoroughly  assimilated,  and  there 
was  just  a  suspicion  of  the  fancy  ball,  the  station  house,  and  a 
broken  shin  about  the  whole  thing. 

Writing  of  a  double  vacancy  in  the  Royal  Academy 
the  same  writer  says  :— 

Will  jealousy  of  the  Pre-Raphaelites  exclude  Holman  Hunt  ? 
We  shall  see. 


444         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Had  he  really  understood  our  purposes,  he  would 
have  been  cognisant  of  my  determination  never  again 
to  compete  unless  the  Academy  were  radically  reformed. 

Later,  in  the  Athenaeum,  he  says  :— 

But  how  could  the  Academy  that  insulted  dead  Reynolds, 
that  would  let  Barry  and  Wilson  starve,  that  drove  Haydon  to 
desperation,  whose  annals  are  annals  of  shame  and  neglect,  discover 
the  merits  of  poor  Nasmyth  ? 

And  again  : — 

Why  should  art  be  managed  in  the  dark,  while  science  and 
literature  are  content  to  be  conducted  in  broad  day  ? 

When  Maclise  had  completed  his  cartoon  of  "  Blucher 
meeting  Wellington  on  the  Field  of  Waterloo,"  artists  of 
all  classes  determined  to  testify  their  recognition  of  its 
singular  masterliness  by  presenting  to  him  a  gold  porte- 
crayon,  together  with  a  simple  expression  of  their  regard 
for  the  excellence  of  the  work.  On  August  6,  1859,  the 
following  appeared  in  the  Athenaeum  : — 

The  gentlemen  who  have  presented  a  tiny  testimonial  to  Mr. 
Maclise  desire  us  to  say  that  the  testimonial  is  not  a  "  pencil-case," 
but  a  "  porte-crayon."  We  have  no  objection  if  they  think 
porte-crayon  better  English.  Authors  of  dictionaries  translate 
porte-crayon  into  pencil-case,  and  pencil-case  into  porte-crayon. 
We  are  also  requested  to  state  that  the  expression  of  good-will  to 
Mr.  Maclise  was  not  confined  to  Royal  Academicians.  The 
pencil-case  (we  must  be  excused  for  writing  English)  was  accom- 
panied by  a  round  robin  of  congratulatory  names,  including  those 
of  nearly  all  the  men  in  or  out  of  the  Academy  eminent  in  art. 

It  will  be  evident  from  the  foregoing  extracts  that  Mr. 
Stephens  up  to  this  date  spoke  in  unrestrained  terms  of 
indignation  towards  the  Royal  Academy,  and  especially 
revealed  disdain  for  Mr.  Maclise's  ability.  In  view  of 
this  fact  all  artists  were  surprised  when  in  the  Dublin 
University  Review  of  October  1859  a  highly  appreciative 
article  on  Maclise's  cartoon  appeared,  signed  F.G.S.  Mr. 
Maclise,  in  recognition  of  its  appreciative  character,  invited 
Mr.  Stephens  to  call  upon  him  whilst  painting  at  the 


xvi      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     445 

Palace  of  Westminster.  From  that  date  the  paper  in 
which  he  was  understood  to  write  changed  its  tone  both 
towards  this  particular  artist  and  towards  the  Institution  to 
which  he  belonged,  until  eventually  the  critic  manifested 
great  indignation  towards  any  aspersions  upon  the  Royal 
Academy.  Whatever  was  his  particular  policy  however, 
it  will  be  seen  that  he  indulged  his  pen  without  due 
thought  of  its  effect  upon  others. 

One  example  of  this  critic's  ill-supported  statements 
occurred  in  my  own  experience.  In  the  summer  of 
1 86 1  family  considerations  made  it  impossible  for  me 
to  return  for  a  long  stay  in  Syria.  On  chatting  with 
me  at  this  time  he  reminded  me  of  what  I  was  losing 
in  public  esteem  by  not  again  appearing  with  an  im- 
portant picture.  I  admitted  that  the  fact  pressed  upon 
my  mind  only  too  heavily  ;  but  I  confided  to  him, 
as  an  old  friend,  a  project  as  to  a  large  painting  for 
which  I  could  find  all  my  materials  as  near  as  the 
coast  of  Norway.  My  composition  was  to  present 
the  camp  of  an  army  of  Vikings  making  preparations 
for  a  descent  upon  England.  I  explained  to  him  the 
special  points  on  which  the  interest  of  my  treatment  would 
depend.  The  main  object  would  be  to  show  that  this 
was  not  a  mere  marauding  expedition  by  havoc -dealing 
pirates,  but  that  these  Vikings  were  emigrants,  proved 
by  their  use  of  forges  to  make  ploughs  and  harrows, 
and  other  implements  of  agriculture,  to  accompany  them 
on  their  journey.  Also  there  should  be  marriages,  I  said, 
being  celebrated  between  the  young  warriors  and  the  brides 
with  whom  they  were  to  depart  on  their  expedition. 
These  were  to  represent  some  ot  the  happier  young  sons 
who  were  going  to  seek  their  fortunes,  while  others  of 
them  were  parting  with  their  lovers  with  signs  of  plighted 
troth  to  be  redeemed  later  by  the  peace-crowning  success 
of  their  expedition. 

In  the  Athenaeum,  July  13,  1861,  appeared  a  notice 
of  the  Trevelyan  paintings  by  W.  B.  Scott,  then  on 
exhibition  in  London,  which  ended  thus  : — 


446         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

The  descent  of  the  Danes  pleases  us  best,  not  only  on 
account  of  its  greater  fidelity  to  Nature  and  the  immense  variety 
of  incident  introduced  as  occupying  the  figures,  but  because  the 
scene  is  not  without  humour  in  conception,  and  seems  more 
original  in  its  nature  than  any  of  the  others.  Tynemouth  Rock, 
at  the  mouth  of  the  Tyne,  forms  the  background,  hazy  in  the 
mists  of  a  spring  morning.  The  boats  and  galleys  of  the  invaders 
are  approaching  the  beach,  while  the  first  party  has  landed  and  is 
scrambling  up  the  cliff  laden  with  all  the  paraphernalia  of  a  quiet 
party  of  emigrants — ploughs,  gardening  tools,  as  well  as  weapons 
in  the  hands  of  the  men,  an  old  woman  laden  with  her  cat  and 
other  valuables,  the  young  mother  with  her  child,  the  elder 
children  with  their  toys.  In  short,  it  is  clear  the  party  has  come 
to  stay.  Some  of  the  men  hastily  erect  a  slight  place  of  defence 
to  secure  the  landing  at  the  top  of  the  cliff. 

On  reading  this  perspicuous  description  of  the  picture, 
little  doubting  that  the  critic  had  derived  his  facts  from 
recent  investigation,  I  felt  mortified,  suspecting  that  I  had 
mistaken  the  remembrance  of  a  feature  in  the  Scott  com- 
position for  my  own  invention.  To  make  sure  I  re- 
inspected  Scott's  painting,  and  it  proved  that  the  invaders 
seen  from  the  upper  cliffs  were  represented  half  a  mile 
away  descending  on  the  beach  from  their  boats,  where 
implements  of  agriculture,  had  there  been  any,  could  not 
have  been  discriminated  at  all.  The  persons  in  the  fore- 
ground climbing  up  the  cliff  were  not  Vikings,  but  only 
panic-stricken  Celts  hurrying  to  make  their  escape  without 
either  ploughs,  gardening  tools,  or  any  other  agricultural 
implements.  I  pointed  out  the  error  to  the  critic,  and 
the  reply  was  that  he  had  had  no  time  to  go  to  the 
Gallery  to  see  Scott's  pictures  before  writing  his  review, 
and  that,  having  my  ideas  in  his  memory,  he  had  for- 
getfully utilised  them  in  the  description  of  the  Danish 
subject  of  the  series.  Thus  the  salient  feature  of  my 
subject  was  forestalled,  and  I  had  no  choice  but  to 
relinquish  it. 

Mr.  Stephens,  in  a  special  number  of  the  Portfolio, 
published  a  monograph  upon  Rossetti,  in  which  he 
indulged  his  romancing  humour,  regardless  of  the  actual 


xvi      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     447 

facts.  Thus  he  speaks  of  the  "  dismal "  studio  in 
Cleveland  Street  with  "dust"  and  "smoke  stains."  It 
had  been  whitewashed  and  distempered  thoroughly  ere 
our  entrance  ;  Rossetti  left  in  seven  months,  and  I 
within  eleven.  In  this  memoir  Stephens  introduces  a 


I).   G.    ROSSKTTI,    1853. 

pen-and-ink  sketch   of   Gabriel   (here   reproduced)   with 
the  following  words  :— 

Still  later,  but  of  the  same  period,  is  the  profile  portrait  of  him- 
self drawn  with  a  pen,  and  here  reduced  from  a  sketch  which 
Rossetti  gave  to  our  friend  Arthur  Hughes. 


448         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

As  a  critic  he  ought  to  have  seen  by  the  style  of  the 
drawing,  as  well  as  from  its  being  in  profile  with  the  eyes 
looking  down,  that  it  could  not  have  been  drawn  by  the 
artist  himself.  It  was,  in  fact,  a  hasty  scribble  done  by 
me  when  I,  with  pen  in  hand,  sat  on  the  opposite  side  of 
the  table  to  my  companion,  and  the  unconsidered  trifle  was 
given  by  Gabriel  to  Alexander  Monro,  who  afterwards 
presented  it  to  Arthur  Hughes. 

This  is  a  grudging  reference  to  my  tutorship  of 
Rossetti  :— 

"  He  very  soon  departed  from  the  uncompromising  principles  of 
the  indomitable  friend." 

Even  where  W.  M.  Rossetti  does  not  quite  coincide 
in  the  view,  he  always  speaks  in  most  approving  manner 
of  these  "  recollections  "  by  Stephens.  He  accepts  remin- 
iscences which  I  revived  in  my  address  on  the  unveiling 
of  the  fountain  in  Cheyne  Walk  as  originated  by  Stephens, 
unmindful  of  my  more  intimate  connection  with  the 
events. 

When,  to  show  the  hopelessness  of  counting  upon 
indolent  members,  I  wrote  of  James  Collinson,1  I  hoped 
to  escape  the  necessity  of  enlarging  upon  this  point  ;  I  am 
now  driven  to  pursue  the  matter  further,  for  the  continued 
claim  of  the  non-workers  to  have  been  original  members 
has  naturally  disarmed  scrutiny  as  to  the  accuracy  of  their 
statements,  and  the  ponderous  accumulation  of  fable  has 
discouraged  me  till  now  from  attempting  to  overturn  the 
romances.  A  few  additional  selections  from  Mr.  F.  G. 
Stephens  will  further  illustrate  the  playfulness  of  his  pen. 
Like  the  "  frequent  visitor  "  to  my  studio  when  "  The 
Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona"  was  on  hand,  who  so  con- 
fidently denounced  as  inaccurate  the  swords  represented, 
Mr.  Stephens  states  in  the  Athenaeum  of  March  27,  i 
as  the  terms  on  which  I  sold  the  same  painting  that 

"It  was  bought  for  ^128  and  ^60  in  sherry." 
1   Contemporary  Re~jieu\ 


xvi       PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     449 

The  reader  will  remember  how,  while  engaged  on  the 
painting,  Warwick  mulcted  me  of  ^20,  and  much 
imperilled  the  finishing  of  my  picture  for  exhibition, 
thus  nearly  ruining  me  ;  many  months  afterwards  a  case 
of  wine  came  to  my  lodgings  from  an  anonymous 
donor.  At  first  I  regarded  its  delivery  as  a  mistake, 
and  left  the  case  unopened  pending  inquiry.  After 
some  weeks  I  accepted  it  as  a  present  from  some  un- 
known friend.  The  case  proved  to  contain  about  a  dozen 
and  a  half  of  wine.  When  I  would  hide  the  nakedness 
of  the  land  from  a  guest  I  produced  one  of  these,  and 
on  some  of  our  boating  excursions  I  took  a  bottle 
or  two  of  champagne  for  the  party,  so  the  last  bottle 
disappeared.  To  this  day  I  have  no  knowledge  of  the 
donor  ;  but  it  has  seemed  possible  that  Warwick  in  some 
bill  transactions,  having  to  take  part  of  the  money  in  kind, 
had  sent  this  wine  to  me  somewhat  to  assuage  the  pricking 
of  his  benumbed  conscience  ;  but  it  is  quite  possible  that 
they  came  from  a  real  friend.  The  picture  by  young 
Danby,  which  I  received  from  Mr.  M'Cracken,  represent- 
ing £60  of  the  price  paid  for  my  "  Two  Gentlemen  of 
Verona,"  remained  on  my  hands  until  my  departure  for 
Syria,  when  Mr.  Broderip  took  it  from  me  at  the  same 
price.  Such  is  the  accuracy  of  Mr.  Stephens'  reminis- 
cences. His  further  acquaintance  with  our  affairs  is 
revealed  in  a  letter  of  his,  published  by  Mr.  J.  G. 
Millais  in  the  year  1851  :— 

"Mr.  Holman  Hunt  was  surely,  though  slowly,  following  his 
path  to  fortune." 

The  stories  I  have  told  of  my  continued  impecuniosity, 
years  after  the  appearance  of  Mr.  Ruskin's  letter  on 
"  The  Two  Gentlemen  of  Verona,"  reveal  again  how  Mr. 
Stephens  writes  without  any  understanding  of  the  position 
of  the  real  members. 

It  is  no  exaggeration  to  say  that,  owing  greatly  to  such 
misleading  utterances,  the  Pre-Raphaelite  combination 

VOL.    II  2   G 


450         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

brought  continuing  misfortune  to  its  originators,  while 
to  its  nominal  members  it  has  been  a  lifelong  source  of 
fortune.  It  is  with  unfeigned  pain  that  I  have  been 
compelled  in  self-defence  to  select  the  foregoing  examples 
of  Stephens'  observations  on  the  subject,  for  I  cannot 
forget  the  cordiality  which  once  subsisted  between  us. 

What  M.  de  la  Sizeranne  had  advanced  about 
Rossetti's  priority,  M.  Chesnau,  M.  Rodd,  and  other 
foreign  critics  had  already  said  less  elaborately,  for  they 
all  relied  upon  the  same  English  authorities,  who,  however 
remote  from  the  centre,  and  however  little  they  knew 
Dante  Gabriel  Rossetti  (except  at  a  time  when  his  mind 
was  unhinged),  have  founded  their  theories  upon  the 
unbalanced  information  of  either  F.  M.  Brown,  W.  M. 
Rossetti,  or  F.  G.  Stephens.  Mr.  Harry  Quilter  and 
Mrs.  Esther  Wood  are  also  quoted  by  the  French  critic 
as  justifying  his  theory.  I  think  my  investigations  may 
undeceive  even  the  witnesses  themselves.  Certainly  it  will 
convince  the  unprejudiced  that  they  judged  the  question 
without  full  knowledge  of  the  facts.  Mr.  Sharp  signalises 
himself  by  the  statement  that  we  were  an  outcome  of  the 
Puseyite  movement.  He  continues  :— 

So  much  has  been  said  for  and  against  the  Pre-Raphaelite 
movement  ;  it  has  incurred  so  much  enmity  and  misrepresentation, 
and,  moreover,  as  all  facts  concerning  its  origin  are  becoming 
somewhat  vague  and  confused,  I  have  devoted  the  following 
chapter  to  the  consideration  of  it  and  The  Germ.  .  .  .  Rossetti 
was  essentially  the  animating  or  guiding  member,  as  well  as 
original  founder.  ...  It  was  not  long  after  the  composition  of 
"  Hand  and  Soul "  that  a  meeting  was  held  in  the  studio  at  No. 
83  (sic]  Newman  Street,  the  outcome  of  which  was  an  organised 
Body  called  the  Pre-Raphaelites,  and  the  organ  thereof  styled  The 
Germ. 

Let  us  sedately  examine  this  confident  statement. 
William  Rossetti  rightly  says  that  "  Hand  and  Soul  "  was 
completed  in  December  1849.  Gabriel  took  Newman 
Street,  October  1849,  left  it  August  1850,  so,  according 
to  Mr.  Sharp's  assertion,  the  end  of  December  1849 


xvr      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     451 

may  be  assumed  to  be  the  earliest  possible  date  of  the 
double  prodigy,  the  birth  of  Pre-Raphaelitism  and  The 
Germ. 

The  early  pages  of  this  book  prove  that  the  Pre- 
Raphaelite  principle  was  agreed  upon  in  February  1848.* 
In  the  spring  of  1848  I  began  "  Rienzi,"  Millais  and  I 
commenced  the  Keats'  designs  in  June  or  July,  in  August 
I  accepted  Rossetti  as  my  pupil  in  Cleveland  Street,  in 
a  month  or  so  Millais  and  1  agreed  that  Rossetti  should 
join  us  as  a  Pre-Raphaelite ;  and  further  we  consented  to 
extend  the  influence  of  our  enthusiasm  by  adopting  four 
prospective  members,  and  we  then  called  our  body  the 
Pre-Raphaelite  Brotherhood.  The  three  active  members 
sent  pictures  to  the  next  spring  exhibition,  that  was  in 
1849,  with  P.R.B.  on  each  picture. 

The  letters  P.R.B.  on  the  pictures  was  the  public 
declaration  of  our  projected  reform,  of  course  commenced 
several  months  earlier,  more  than  a  year  and  a  half  before 
the  meeting  reported  by  Mr.  Sharp,  when  he  declares  Pre- 
Raphaelitism  was  first  instituted.  It  is  on  his  delusive 
assumptions,  therefore,  that  Mr.  Sharp  relies  for  his 
declaration  that  Rossetti  was  the  father  and  Brown  the 
grandfather  of  Pre-Raphaelitism. 

The  character  of  the  evidence  given  by  both  the 
inside  and  multitudinous  outside  writers,  who  have  rushed 
forward  with  such  eager  readiness  to  instruct  the  public, 
can  now  be  judged,  and  no  one  will  wonder  that  I  felt  so 
long  disinclined  to  cleanse  out  the  Augean  stables  they 
had  choked  up.  I  might  sum  up  the  case  more  elabo- 
rately, but  I  think  any  one  who  really  wishes  to  know  the 
truth  will  be  satisfied  with  the  evidence  I  have  given,  and 
will  understand  finally  that  Pre-Raphaelitism  did  not 
begin  with  Madox  Brown,  nor  with  Dante  Gabriel 
Rossetti,  and  that  it  was  not  antiquarianism  or  quattro- 
centism  in  any  sense,  and  this  last  is  the  really  vital  point. 
I  have  recognised  that  there  is  a  snare  for  educated 
people  to  regard  most  highly  that  art  which  is  an 

1   Page  8  i . 


452         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

imitation  of  ancient  approved  examples,  rather  than 
that  done  with  new  inspiration  from  Nature  herself, 
and  that  they  are  apt  to  underrate  the  discovered  truths 
of  their  own  time.  With  grateful  reverence  for  the 
noble  creations  of  previous  artistic  nations  in  all  their 
diversity,  and  recognition  of  the  value  to  be  gained 
from  their  technical  teaching,  our  object  was  to  be 
enslaved  by  none,  but  in  the  fields  of  Nature  and  under 
the  sky  of  Heaven  frankly  to  picture  her  healthful  beauty 
and  strength.  In  reverting  to  this  question,  it  cannot  be 
too  clearly  reasserted  that  Pre-Raphaelitism  in  its  purity 
was  the  frank  worship  of  Nature,  kept  in  check  by  selec- 
tion and  directed  by  the  spirit  of  imaginative  purpose. 
Only  an  inability  to  discern  glaring  differences  of  style,  or 
a  perverse  disregard  of  dates,  could  allow  contrary  con- 
clusions. 

The  present  feeling  towards  art,  notwithstanding  the 
indiscriminate  training  of  youths  to  the  pursuit,  is  alto- 
gether dead  to  any  thought  of  its  never-ending  universal 
preciousness,  and  compares  most  unfavourably  with  the 
desire  among  rulers  in  the  past  to  make  use  of  the 
cultivated  genius  of  their  age  and  country. 

One  matter  now  calling  for  attention  is  the  con- 
sequences of  the  abolition  of  the  system  of  apprenticeship 
which  results  inevitably  from  the  influence  of  public 
academies.  In  the  past  the  artist  began  his  training 
much  earlier  than  the  majority  of  students  do  in  the 
present  day.  Fourteen  was  the  age  at  which  the  youth, 
according  to  Cennino  Cennini,  was  apprenticed  to  a 
master.  For  the  first  seven  years  it  was  his  duty,  while 
being  trained  in  more  subtle  matters,  to  attend  to  the 
mechanical  parts  of  the  industry  of  the  studio.  Academies 
give  no  such  attention  to  material  matters,  and  accord- 
ingly the  student  of  somewhat  seriously  advanced  age 
cultivates  the  practice  of  art  in  ignorance  of  the  nature 
of  the  materials  he  uses.  The  aspirant  is  naturally  im- 
patient to  prove  his  ability  in  original  design,  and  does  so 
without  thought  that  he  is  neglecting  a  vital  branch  of 


xvi      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     453 

his  art.  The  result  is  often  fatally  delusive.  The  painter, 
not  being  properly  educated  in  the  nature  of  his  materials, 
is  not  able  to  judge  of  and  use  wisely  the  preparations 
supplied  to  him  ;  the  artists'  colourmen,  on  their  side, 
prepare  their  wares  without  knowledge  of  the  uses  to 
which  their  customers  will  put  them  ;  each  may  be 
working  inimically  to  the  other. 

The  old  masters  collected  their  materials  from  various 
sources.  They  knew  how  to  choose  panels  or  canvas, 
and  to  prepare  their  ground  either  with  whiting,  gesso,  or 
white  lead.  For  pigments,  they  recognised  the  difference 
between  various  earths  and  paints  formed  by  the  crushing 
of  native  rock,  and  the  juices  of  various  plants,  and  their 
chemical  properties.  They  were  accomplished  in  clarifying 
oils  and  in  making  varnishes,  and  knew  how  to  choose 
and  prepare  paper  suitable  for  silver  point  and  for  large 
cartoons  tor  their  uses,  and  all  the  materials  employed 
in  their  work.  They  despised  no  drudgery  that 
would  contribute  to  the  permanence  of  their  work,  and 
when  they  had  grown  past  the  labour  of  the  workshop, 
they  were  able  to  judge  the  nature  of  the  articles  offered 
to  them.  But  the  modern  student,  disdaining  this  humble 
branch  of  his  art,  is  not  prepared,  on  arriving  at  the  age 
when  he  ought  to  have  finished  these  preliminary  exer- 
cises, to  undertake  material  and  technical  preparations,  as 
was  habitual  under  the  apprenticeship  system,  and  to 
follow  the  traditions  of  masters  whose  successive  experi- 
ences reached  back  to  remote  antiquity.  To  the  modern 
practitioner,  the  only  difference  between  one  paint  and  its 
fellow  is  that  one  is  a  bright  and  another  is  a  dull  colour, 
and  he  knows  not  that  certain  pigments  put  into  con- 
junction will  vitiate  each  other's  permanence,  and  that 
several  require  special  treatment  in  their  employment. 
It  is  owing  to  the  respectability  of  the  best  artists'  colour- 
men  that  under  this  system  the  evils  suffered  have  been 
so  far  limited.  Yet  it  is  only  after  many  years  have  gone 
by  that  the  painter  can  judge  of  what  he  should  have 
understood  at  the  beginning  of  his  career  ;  and  even  then 


454         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

there  is  no  established  opportunity  for  him  to  hand  down 
to  his  successors  the  knowledge  he  has  acquired.  In  the 
year  1880,  feeling  seriously  that  the  evil  was  not  only 
great,  but  that  the  consequences  of  ignorance  were  in- 
creasing, I  applied  to  the  Society  of  Arts  for  an 
opportunity  to  demonstrate  this  ;  I  gave  an  address  on 
the  subject,  and  carried  on  the  discussion  which  arose 
afterwards.  I  feel  now  that  much  good  was  done  in 
convincing  artists  and  colourmen  of  the  danger  of  blind 

o  o 

trust  in  the  unprotected  supply  of  the  day.  It  transpired 
that  the  producers  of  colours  were  no  longer  small  manu- 
facturers superintending  all  their  preparations  personally  ; 
these  had  been  supplanted  by  the  proprietors  of  large 
factories,  where  each  production  goes  through  numerous 
irresponsible  hands.  Thus  a  great  deal  of  fastidiousness 
in  the  handling  of  materials  had  been  lost.  A  full  venti- 
lation of  the  subject  induced  retailers,  accordingly,  to 
become  more  cautious  than  they  had  been  of  recent  years 
in  receiving  materials  from  the  wholesale  dealer. 

Since  the  time  I  brought  this  question  forward  artists' 
materials  certainly  deserve  greater  confidence,  and  drawing 
paper,  which  had  become  disastrously  delusive  in  its 
apparent  excellence,  wrecking  many  a  beautiful  drawing, 
has  now  been  conspicuously  improved,  and  is,  when  made 
by  the  O.W.C.  Company,  quite  perfect.  Some  other  sup- 
plies have  also  improved.  Nevertheless  general  matters 
will  not  be  perfect  till  artists  make  themselves  proficient 
in  technical  mysteries.  The  mischief  entailed  by  want  of 
drilling  in  the  nature  of  substances  was  made  distressingly 
apparent  towards  the  middle  of  last  century  by  the 
breaking  up  of  surface  in  many  of  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds's 
later  pictures.  This  was  traceable  to  his  use  of  asphaltum 
as  a  ground.  In  the  early  nineteenth  century  time  had 
not  yet  revealed  the  disastrous  consequences  of  using  this 
pernicious  Dead  Sea  pitch,  and  it  was  almost  universally 
employed.  Many  admirable  works  by  Wilkie,  Hilton, 
and  their  contemporaries,  have  thereby  been  doomed  to 
complete  destruction.  In  another  century  no  one  will 


xvi      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     455 

know  what  powers  of  delicacy  in  manipulation  those 
artists  had,  for  the  bitumen,  ever  dilating  and  contracting 
with  atmospheric  changes,  is  tearing  the  paintings  to 
pieces.  Landseer's  early  pictures  are  already  ruined  or  on 
their  way  to  ruin  by  its  use  ;  fortunately,  in  the  middle  of 
his  life,  which  was  the  beginning  of  ours,  the  treacherous- 
ness  of  this  rich  brown  was  discovered,  and  he  and  all  sane 
men  abjured  it  ;  but  even  now  there  are  painters  who  use 
the  injurious  stuff  under  one  name  or  another,  "  Mummy  " 
being  one  ;  for  this  is  a  preparation  from  Egyptian  corpses, 
which  were  saturated  with  this  pitch.  One  may  say, 
however,  that  when  used  now,  it  is  only  by  painters 
indifferent  to  the  permanence  of  their  work,  and  such  will 
not  produce  any  paintings  that  merit  preservation.  I 
revert  to  this  subject  in  the  hope  that  the  matter,  as  years 
go  on,  will  command  increasing  attention.  About  the 
time  of  my  public  investigation  of  it,  artists  on  the 
Continent  were  ready  to  recognise  the  importance  of 
scrupulousness  in  their  use  of  materials,  for  they  had 
witnessed  the  ruin  caused  in  the  works  of  Horace  Vernet, 
Gericault,  and  others  from  want  of  knowledge  and 
attention.  In  Munich  a  society  was  formed,  under  the 
patronage  of  the  king,  which  did  me  the  honour  of 
translating  my  pamphlet  and  enrolling  me  an  honorary 
member. 

When  Millais  and  I  were  entering  on  our  profession 
we  were  more  fortunate  than  we  knew  at  the  time  in 
having  delicate  colours,  vermilions,  madders,  and  cad- 
miums, prepared  by  George  Field,  an  admirable  chemist 
and  manipulator  of  precious  pigments.  We  used  these 
with  well-merited  confidence.  That  ours  was  but  a  blind 
reliance  was  proved  after  Geoge  Field's  death,  when  some 
of  the  vermilions  supplied  in  imitation  of  his  blackened 
after  a  short  time  ;  when  tested  these  proved  to  have  a 
large  percentage  of  foreign  matter  in  them.  The  excuse 
for  this  evil  given  by  artists'  colourmen  was  that  the 
quicksilver  mines  in  Austria  had  all  been  purchased 
by  a  millionaire,  who  had  raised  the  price  of  mercury, 


456         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

and  that  the  wholesale  dealer,  assuming  that  any  corre- 
sponding advance  in  price  would  reduce  the  demand, 
had  concocted  an  imitation,  which  they  sold  to  artists' 
colourmen' without  explanation.  It  was  this  discovery 
that  first  prompted  me  to  open  up  the  whole  question, 
and  to  show  the  pigments  which  were  inimical  to  one 
another,  such  as  vermilion  and  emerald  green,  or  emerald 
green  and  cadmium.  Cadmium  indeed  at  the  best  is  very 
capricious,  and  if  trustworthy,  as  many  good  authorities 
declare  it  to  be,  it  is  only  so  when  very  exceptional  care  is 
spent  on  its  preparation.  Some  specimens  painted  on  a 
trial  canvas  in  1860,  had  in  1880  sunk  to  the  colour  of 
dirty  beeswax,  and  some,  prepared  by  Mr.  Dawson  (and 
therefore  above  suspicion  as  to  its  genuineness),  soon  after 
became  greatly  vitiated,  while  chromes  put  on  the  trial 
canvas  in  1860  are  still  incomparably  superior  in  brilliancy 
to  cadmium,  lemon,  and  strontian  yellow  of  the  same  date. 
I  must  refer  any  readers  interested  in  this  matter  for 
further  particulars  to  the  Journal  of  the  Society  of  Arts, 
1880. 

I  should  consider  that  this  book  would  fail  as  a  proper 
comment  upon  the  state  of  art  of  our  time  if  I  did  not 
enforce  attention  to  these  practical  questions.  Notwith- 
standing the  carefully  tested  experiences  that  the  old 
masters  took  such  pains  to  transmit  from  generation  to 
generation,  they  were  not  always  free  from  a  temptation 
to  unwariness  in  new  combinations  of  pigments,  and 
changes  have  undoubtedly  resulted.  This  is  evident  in 
the  fact  that  often  their  foreground  herbage  is  now  of  a 
deep  brown  colour,  when  on  neighbouring  objects  the 
light  is  rendered  so  strongly  as  to  prove  that  this  part  of 
the  picture  was  also  originally  brightly  illuminated  through- 
out. By  a  course  of  instruction  to  the  student  such  as  I 
proposed,  followed  up  by  intelligent  investigation,  failures 
in  the  use  of  pigments  should  be  lessened  or  altogether 
eliminated. 

I  must  not  leave  this  subject  without  drawing  attention 
to  the  treatment  of  paintings  after  they  have  left  the 


xvi      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     457 

artists'  hands.  The  notion  is  widely  spread  that  an  oil 
picture  will  withstand  any  rough  treatment.  I  have 
seen  common  dealers  use  saliva  upon  a  picture  to  show 
up  the  darks,  and  rub  it  quite  stiffly  with  their  fingers. 
It  is  most  injurious  to  treat  paint  thus,  for  nothing  is 
more  destructive  to  it.  Mr.  Mulready  once  told  me 
that  after  his  picture  of  "  The  Wedding  Gown  "  had  been 
on  exhibition  in  South  Kensington  for  a  few  years,  he 
received  notice  that  the  surface  was  disfigured  throughout 
by  the  appearance  of  numerous  small  white  rings,  an 
eighth  of  an  inch  or  less  in  diameter.  Examining  it  on 
the  spot,  he  could  not  explain  the  cause  of  these,  but  when 
at  home  he  discovered  with  a  magnifying  glass  that  they 
had  been  caused  by  visitors  speaking  in  front  of  the 
work,  and  that  unobserved  globes  of  saliva  had  dissolved 
the  integrity  of  the  paint,  contracting  it,  leaving  white 
circles  exposed  ;  these  he  eventually  repaired.  Ever  since 
this  restoration  the  picture,  being  covered  by  a  glass,  has 
developed  no  such  evil.  This  painting  had  evidently 
been  executed  with  care,  no  coat  of  paint  being  plastered 
over  another,  and  the  layers  being  limited,  for  the  sake  of 
purity  of  hue,  to  as  few  as  could  produce  the  desired  tint. 
Pictures  thus  conducted  are  of  admirable  permanence,  as 
quattrocento  paintings  testify.  But  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
all  parts  of  such  pictures  as  are  painted  with  ochres  and 
umbers  may  be  perfectly  lustrous  at  the  beginning,  and  it 
would  be  unadvisable  for  the  artist  to  add  to  the  oleaginous 
vehicle  in  these  clays  while  the  picture  is  only  surface  dry. 
After  some  years  the  case  is  different.  The  earthy  com- 
pounds will  have  sucked  up  the  oil,  and  the  dry  pigment 
will  have  become  again  of  an  absorbent  character.  At 
this  point  the  painting  is  in  danger  not  only  from  the 
breath  of  spectators,  but  from  injudicious  treatment  by 
well-meaning  ignorants.  If  it  has  become  dull  in  the 
parts  that  should  be  rich  and  deep,  there  is  a  great  likeli- 
hood that  a  coat  of  varnish  will  be  administered  by  a  dealer. 
The  effect  of  this  is  highly  satisfactory  at  first,  but  as  such 
varnish  is  almost  certain  to  be  either  mastic  or  some  other 


458          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

spirit  varnish  with  no  oil  in  it,  the  brittle  gum  will  enter 
into  the  dry  earthy  particles  and  contract  them,  so  that 
before  long  minute  cracks  will  appear  all  over  the 
argillaceous  browns.  These,  however,  are  not  like  the  in- 
curable fissures  caused  by  asphaltum,  for  there  is  a  possible 
permanent  cure  by  judiciously  careful  treatment.  Should 
the  picture  have  been  ignorantly  varnished,  the  entire 
removal  of  the  mastic  by  abrasion  is  necessary  as  a 
preliminary  to  the  careful  filling  up  of  the  cracks  with 
paint  ;  when  the  retouchings  are  perfectly  dry,  and  are 
made  equal  with  the  surrounding  surface,  a  coat  of  oil,  or 
it  may  be  of  diluted  medium,  such  as  was  used  by  the 
artist  with  his  colours  in  painting  it,  should  be  applied. 
The  picture  might  thus  be  restored  without  loss  of  its 
integrity.  The  intelligence  of  the  varnisher  will  enable 
him  to  see  that  if  the  picture  has  not  been  varnished,  and 
has  no  cracks,  it  may  be  coated  at  once  with  either  oil  or 
the  varnish  used  by  the  artist  diluted  with  oil  by  means  of 
either  heat,  benzine,  or  rectified  turpentine.  When  years 
have  dried  and  hardened  this  coating,  mastic  varnish  may 
be  employed  with  impunity,  because  it  will  not  be  sucked 
in  by  the  original  pigment,  and  at  a  later  period  this  may 
be  removed  or  renewed.  Even  thus  protected,  it  should 
be  remembered  that  pictures  are  not  made  to  handle  or 
touch,  for  the  purity  of  the  paint  will  be  sullied  by  such 
treatment,  and  particles  of  dirt  will  be  driven  into  the 
interstices.  It  is  most  important  to  realise  this  truth  as 
a  guide  to  the  officials  in  charge  of  porters  employed  in 
hanging  pictures,  for  these  latter  are  often,  by  long  want 
of  due  control,  too  reckless  in  carrying  works  of  art. 
Attendants  at  exhibitions  should  also  be  strict  in  prevent- 
ing visitors  to  public  galleries  from  touching  the  pictures. 
It  may  seem  that  painters  of  larger  works  than  those  to 
which  I  have  alluded  as  needing  scientific  care,  do  not  need 
this  caution,  but,  in  fact,  the  greater  size  of-a  work  makes 
it  need  more  knowledge  and  care  in  technical  handling,  and 
it  may  be  added  that  any  indications  in  paintings,  of  want  of 
loving  thought  and  attention,  to  have  the  material  employed 


xvi      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     459 

well  cared  for,  beautiful,  and  precious,  is  a  sure  sign  by 
itself  that  the  fabricator  is  not  an  artist  by  nature.  Im- 
portant as  the  character  of  the  products  used  in  art  and 
the  judicious  employment  of  these  must  seem  to  the  wise, 
I  have  known  artists  who  declare  that  the  ultimate  stability 
of  their  works  was  of  no  concern  to  them.  We  need  not 
consider  these.  Fashions  do  and  must  change  in  the 
world.  Children  have  often  an  inclination  to  revolt 
against  the  course  which  their  fathers  pursued,  and 
the  antagonistic  activity  of  each  generation  is  apt  to  be 
thoughtlessly  accentuated.  Indeed,  with  the  principle  of 
forward  movement  admitted,  rejudgment  on  the  actual 
requirements  of  each  age  must  be  exercised.  Yet  en- 
lightened adventurers  will  stop  short  when  they  see  them- 
selves approaching  to  the  falsehood  of  extremes.  The 
young  in  their  daring  may  try  new  ice,  but  unless  their 
lives  are  of  no  value  they  will  not  skate  on  it  merely 
because  their  elders  caution  them  against  its  fatality. 
National  obligations  require  that  to  compete  in  excellence 
with  other  nations  we  must  never  abandon  cardinal 
principles,  for  our  art,  like  any  other,  has  certain  inevitable 
conventions,  and  if  all  arts  are  put  aside,  certain  it  is  that 
the  stability  of  the  nation  is  doomed,  and  sottish  barbarism 
will  reign  supreme.  Our  art,  like  other  pursuits  profess- 
ing to  refine  the  human  mind,  must  be  exercised  with  a 
sense  of  responsibility  to  the  nation  which  gives  it  birth. 
The  seeds  of  the  blossom  of  noxious  or  benign  growth  are 
equally  blown  abroad.  Evil  seed  will  bear  poisonous 
food,  and  good  seed  will  bring  forth  wholesome  fruit. 
Each  human  act  may  not,  in  the  sight  of  contemporaries, 
gain  its  merited  reward  ;  the  innocent,  indeed,  often 
suffer  cruel  misfortune,  and  the  wicked  often  triumph  in 
their  wickedness.  Yet  when  the  balance  of  good  and  evil 
in  a  nation  affects  the  whole  mass,  a  just  consequence 
overtakes  it  in  a  way  that  may  be  recognised  as  the  un- 
mistakable judgment  of  the  gods,  or  in  other  minds  the 
unerring  sequence  of  a  settled  course.  We  must  dread 
to  perpetuate  from  the  past  ideas  which  savour  either  ot 


460         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND /THE       CHAP. 

barbarism,  superstition,  or  false  sentiment,  and  not  less  be 
on  guard  against  the  festering  vanities  of  our  own  day, 
which  are  blazoned  abroad  by  idle-minded  mockers  of 
rectitude.  All  art  is  a  branch  of  that  spirit  of  appeal 
from  the  Divine  to  the  universe  which  has  been  working 
ever  since  our  kind  knew  the  difference  between  good 
and  evil,  and,  like  the  course  of  all  awakening  powers,  is 
beset  by  deceiving  angels,  who  now,  as  in  earlier  times, 
devise  new  snares  to  entrap  the  careless.  In  the  exercise 
of  her  holy  function  art  must  sort  out  the  good  and 
beautiful  from  the  base  and  hideous.  She  presents  the 
form  of  a  nation's  spirit,  exactly  as  the  sandy  atoms  on  a 
vibrating  plane  make  a  constant  and  distinct  pattern  to 
the  sound  of  a  given  note.  Every  vibration  will  interpret 
with  equal  exactness  a  noble  or  a  frivolous  tone,  but  the 
particles  must  be  uncontaminated  and  safe  from  entangle- 
ment by  obstructive  elements,  and  be  sheltered  from  gusts 
of  wind  that  would  whirl  the  atoms  out  of  their  places. 
But  while  the  temper  of  the  people  is  of  necessity  reflected 
by  its  art,  in  wise  hands  it  may  be  controlled  to  an  inde- 
pendent course  and  initiate  a  purifying  influence,  and  help 
to  mould  the  nation's  thoughts,  affections,'  and  impulses. 
Art  may  be  rich  and  accomplished  in  power,  and  of  great 
perfection  as  to  technique,  but  delusive  in  sentiment,  and  its 
excellence  will  all  the  more  seduce  the  mind  of  its  admirers, 
and  lead  them  to  forget  the  certain  consequences  of  un- 
restraint— certain,  not  at  all  the  less,  if  the  work  of  art 
be  cultivated  in  aesthetic  manipulative  powers,  and  only 
base  in  pandering  to  degrading  inclinations.  The  evil 
contagion  of  false  sentiment  is  not  rendered  innocuous  by 
cunning  workmanship.  Mawkish  imagination  will  not  be 
confined  to  professed  art  powers,  but  extends  to  the 
whole  nation,  and  ends  either  with  temporary  disaster, 
to  be  recovered  from  only  by  contrition,  forswearing 
frivolity  and  vice,  the  following  of  a  new  course,  or  the 
penalty  may  be  utter  and  final  catastrophe.  We  have 
seen  some  such  ruin  overtaking  nations  in  our  day,  and 
certainly  destiny's  thunderbolts  are  not  yet  exhausted. 


xvi      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     461 

Twenty-five  years  ago  I  wrote  in  the  Nineteenth  Century 
that  if  copyright  in  works  of  art  were  not  legally 
safeguarded,  invention,  which  costs  most  time,  would 

O  ' 

be  discontinued  by  the  painter,  and  he  would  con- 
sider only  the  meaningless  surface  of  a  canvas.  Nothing 
tangible  was  done  to  protect  design,  and  now  my 
prophecy  is  verified  to  the  full.  With  few  exceptions, 
paintings  are  no  longer  strictly  works  of  art,  but  only 
good  or  bad  manipulation.  Perhaps  the  admirers  or 
elevated  purpose  in  the  latter  half  of  the  last  century 
neglected  too  much  the  workman-like  part  of  their 
ambition  and  provoked  hasty  reaction.  The  revulsion 
to  materialism  is  a  deadly  sign.  The  artists  of  the  new 
school  emulate  one  another  in  the  repudiation  of  inventive 
thought,  and  this,  as  it  proves,  encourages  careless  execu- 
tion and  neglect  of  fundamental  form,  and  is  allied  to 
a  system  of  outlawry  both  in  purpose  and  method  of 
expression  such  as  was  never  before  known  in  the  history 
of  the  world.  Such  wildness,  gloried  in  by  labourers  in 
what  should  be  the  most  precious  of  human  industries, 
stimulates  a  progressive  lowering  of  the  standard  or 
personal  responsibility,  and  must  breed  increased  laxity 
of  principle  in  social  rectitude,  until  the  example  of 
defiant  indolence  imperils  the  whole  nation.  Since  works 
done  without  a  trace  of  patient  study,  and  bearing 
evidence  of  ignorant  handling  of  materials  used  in  the 
arts,  are  now  put  forward  as  admirable  examples  of  taste, 
we  must  consider  what  has  brought  about  such  a  reversal 
of  all  the  principles  which  developed  the  beauty  of 
design.  The  few  quotations  from  journalistic  criticisms 
of  the  last  fifty  years  which  I  have  had  to  give  hereto- 
fore will  go  far  to  prove  that  the  influence  of  writers  who 
have  had  no  other  qualification  to  judge  of  art  matters 
than  the  possession  of  more  or  less  literary  facility, 
has  been  deterrent  and  even  fatal  to  a  steady  advance 
of  taste.  The  artist  who  had  cultivated  his  abilities 
to  the  point  of  successful  promise  was  generally  without 
money  at  command,  for  the  well-to-do  students,  as  a 


462         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

rule,  found  passing  excuse  for  procrastination  of  the 
struggle  with  themselves,  and  therefore  rarely  reached 
full  capability.  The  patron,  although  instinctively  loving 
art,  has  often  been  only  half  confirmed  in  his  personal 
convictions  ;  and  if,  when  a  work  had  won  his  admiration, 
he  read  a  disdainful  article  on  the  production  in  his 
favourite  newspaper,  he  imagined  that  the  verdict  was  not 
alone  the  opinion  of  one  writer,  but  the  voice  of  the  whole 
conclave  of  an  unprejudiced  and  judicious  committee. 
So  with  sturdy  respect  for  his  newspaper  on  all  questions, 
he  put  away  his  opened  cheque-book,  or  used  it  to  pur- 
chase another  production  praised  as  up  to  the  standard 
of  the  passing  day. 

The  verdict  of  the  journal  most  in  vogue  was 
often  echoed  far  and  wide,  and  set  the  fashion  of  taste 
for  more  than  a  few  seasons.  Thus  the  artist  of  original 
work  was  never  left  undamned,  nor  the  maker  of  the  trite 
and  commonplace  ever  left  unpraised.  If  the  directors  of 
art  taste  had  in  our  youth  only  appeared  as  unpretending 
mortals  of  cultivated  education  and  refinement,  and  had 
modestly  expressed  their  partialities,  the  result  might  have 
been  of  value  both  to  artists  and  the  public.  But  not  satis- 
fied to  be  unprejudiced  observers,  they  stood  forward 
as  supreme  masters  of  the  innermost  mysteries  of  art. 
The  present  effect  of  this  influence  will  not  be  gloried 
in,  in  the  future.  Ah  !  in  this  usurpation  of  infallibility, 
what  injury  to  English  design  have  not  these  critics 
done  by  unfair  laudations  of  inferior  foreign  art  ; 
often  in  truth  they  have  made  pretenders  who  could  not 
win  respect  in  their  own  country  take  possession  of  all 
the  enthusiasm  of  English  patrons,  and  thus  gained  for 
a  few  years  exaggerated  favour,  few,  but  long  enough 
to  drive  many  much  worthier  British  artists  out  of  the 
field.  How  happy  were  the  masters  of  old  time  who 
were  allowed  to  develop  their  art  faculties  without  such 
baneful  interference.  In  view  of  the  extent  of  folly  to 
which  the  class  of  art  writers  to  whom  I  have  referred 
have  gone  of  late,  it  might  be  salutary  for  future  genera- 


xvi      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     463 

tions  that  some  specimens  of  the  travesty  of  art  which 
they  have  fostered  should  be  preserved  in  the  cupboards 
of  our  museums,  together  with  the  opinions  and  names 
of  their  appreciative  critics. 

It  is  one  of  the  great  objects  of  this  book  to  lead 
artists  to  see  the  necessity  of  sitting  in  judgment  on  the 
fashion  of  the  day,  and  of  throwing  away  that  which  is 
wanting  in  healthiness  or  in  pure  and  high  purpose. 
The  temper  of  theorists  has  led  them  very  generally  of 
late  to  pronounce  without  limitation  that  art  has  no 
connection  with  morals.  They  forget  what  inspired  the 
growing  development  of  ancient  art,  or  they  ignore  that 
higher  requirement  which  civilisation  has  brought  to 
us,  and  condemn  the  ancient  by  our  standard.  Some 
wise  words  of  Lord  Leighton  are  of  value  on  this  point. 
After  conceding  that  "  Art  is  wholly  independent  of 
morality,"  he  proceeds  :— 

There  is,  nevertheless,  no  error  deeper  or  more  deadly  than 
to  deny  that  the  moral  complexion,  the  ethos,  of  the  artist, 
does  in  truth  tinge  every  work  of  his  hand  and  fashion  —  in 
silence  but  with  the  certainty  of  fate — the  course  and  current 
of  his  whole  career.  Believe  me,  whatever  of  dignity,  whatever 
of  strength  we  have  within  us,  will  display  and  make  strong  the 
labours  of  our  hands  ;  whatever  littleness  degrades  our  spirit  will 
lessen  them  and  drag  them  down  ;  whatever  noble  fire  is  in  our 
hearts  will  burn  also  in  our  work  ;  whatever  purity  is  ours  will 
chasten  and  exalt  it.  For  as  we  are,  so  our  work  is  ;  and  what 
we  sow  in  our  lives  that  beyond  a  doubt  we  shall  reap,  for  good 
or  for  ill,  in  the  strengthening  and  defacing  of  whatever  gifts  have 
fallen  to  our  lot. 


"That  morality  need  have  nothing  to  do  with  art" 
is  to  proclaim  the  undeniable,  but  the  latitudinarian  appli- 
cation of  this  statement  is  altogether  false  to  the  examples 
of  antiquity.  All  art  from  the  beginning  served  for 
the  higher  development  of  men's  minds.  It  has  ever 

been  valued  as  food  to  sustain  strength  for  noble  resolves, 

. 
not  as  that  devoured  by  epicures  only  to  surfeit  the  palate. 


464         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Undoubtedly  the  art  of  design  often  has  been  defiantly 
prostituted  to  immoral  purpose,  just  as  literature  and 
poetry  have  at  times  made  unlawful  love  and  rebellion 
against  just  order  seem  affecting  and  seductive,  and  any 
penalty  represented  as  suffered  for  such  libertinage  a  matter 
of  lachrymose  sympathy  ;  but  the  approval  of  such  un- 
wholesome pathos,  the  pandering  to  such  sentiment,  is 
the  canker  that  must  wreck  all  high  art,  and  in  certain 
course  precipitate  the  ruin  of  its  nation. 

I  will  not  believe  that  for  more  than  a  medlar  season 
the  fashion  of  mawkish  unrestraint  in  vice  will  obtain 
foothold  with  any  people  trained  under  the  pure  influences 
of  early  English  poetry.  Let  us  weigh  well  what  Chaucer 
says  : — 

But  certainly  no  word  ne  wryteth  he 
Of  thilke  wikke  ensample  of  Canace 
That  lovede  hir  owne  brother  sinfully  ; 
Of  swiche  cursed  stories  I  sey  "  fy  "  ; 
or 

Elles  of  Tyro  Apollonius 

Of  swiche  unkinde  abominacions, 

Ne  I  wol  noon  reherse  if  that  1  may. 

In  these  words  we  have  the  true  English  ring  of 
healthful-minded  Shakespeare,  Ben  Jonson,  Milton,  Steele, 
Addison,  Pope,  Johnson,  Hogarth  (not  to  come  nearer  to 
our  own  time),  all  in  different  tones  support  this  tradition 
of  denunciation  of  impurity  in  art.  The  argument  that 
art  communicates  its  special  blessings  in  producing  refine- 
ment is  a  sophistical  defence,  for  sure  it  is  that  a  refined 
profligate  is  worse  in  himself  and  more  mischievous  to 
others  than  a  rude  one. 

Lilies  that  fester  smell  far  worse  than  weeds. 

Refinement  should  perfect  virtue,  even  as  polish  does  when 
laid  over  good  workmanship,  while  yet  it  has  no  proper 
place  when  concealing  underlying  rottenness.  It  is  on 
such  grounds  that  I  plead  for  the  responsible  use  of  all 
art.  I  am  bound  now  to  revert  to  the  temper  in 


xvi      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     465 

which  Pre-Raphaelitism  instinctively  treated  this  question. 
It  has  been  seen  how  in  a  quite  child-like  way  we  at  the 
beginning  set  ourselves  to  illustrate  themes  which  we  con- 
scientiously persuaded  ourselves  to  be  connected  with  the 
pathetic,  the  honest,  the  laudable,  the  sublime  interests  of 
humanity.  When  we  treated  of  vicious  power  triumphant, 
it  was  to  excite  honest  pity  for  the  victims,  and  indignation 
towards  arrogant  vice.  Some  honest  men  that  I  have 
met  have  asked  me  with  unaffected  concern  whether 
artists  paint  their  subjects  with  full  conviction,  or  merely 
as  a  bid  for  popular  favour.  Sincerity  or  insincerity  of 
artists  must  of  necessity  reveal  itself  in  their  works. 
Take  Millais  as  a  fair  exponent  of  our  purpose  ;  he  only 
exceptionally  painted  so-called  religious  subjects,  but  he 
loved  to  illustrate  what  may  justly  be  looked  upon  as 
holy  themes.  The  story  of  Lorenzo  and  Isabella,  con- 
sidered on  moral  grounds,  is  thoroughly  healthy  and 
sound  in  its  claim  to  human  sympathy  and  interest  ;  their 
affections  were  obnoxious  to  no  righteous  judgment,  but 
only  inimical  to  false  pride  and  vanity.  In  his  picture 
"  L'Enfant  du  Regiment,"  the  child  sleeping  on  the 
warrior's  tomb,  contrasted  with  surrounding  violence  and 
bloodshed,  typified  the  trustful  peace  which  the  building 
was  originally  destined  to  give.  Although  the  work  is 
not  labelled  religious,  it  may  be  regarded  as  a  Christian 
homily.  His  "  Blind  Girl,"  moreover,  is  a  heart-felt  appeal 
to  commiseration.  "  The  Rescuing  Fireman  "  provokes  ex- 
pansive recognition  of  the  Divine  in  unpretending  humanity. 
Rossetti's  early  designs  were  pronouncedly  religious,  and 
his  design  of  "  Found  "  was,  in  the  just  sense,  intrinsically 
so.  These  pictures  by  my  two  companions  would  be 
enough  to  prove  that  our  purpose  had  not  only  a  newness 
in  its  outer  form,  but  also  took  up  in  more  extended 
aspiration  the  principle  exemplifying  that  "  Art  is  Love." 
In  fact,  those  who  proclaim  that  art  has  no  connection 
with  morals  often  condemn  our  work  on  the  ground  of  its 
double  purpose.  Still  let  it  be  said  we  did  not  label  our 
pictures  with  a  special  appeal  as  "  having  a  moral,"  for  we 

VOL.    II  2    H 


466         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

knew  that  a  scene  of  beauty  in  itself  alone  gives  innocent 
joy,  with  unspeakable  strength  of  persuasion  to  purity 
and  sweetness,  and  the  painter's  service  in  portraying  it 
may  be  as  exalted  as  that  performed  when  the  intent  to 
teach  is  added  thereto. 

Before  pronouncing  the  last  words  of  this  book,  it  is 
needful  to  declare  that,  notwithstanding  what  may  seem 
to  some  inconsistent  digressions,  it  is  a  history  of  a  move- 
ment which  strove  to  bring  greater  healthiness  and  integrity 
to  every  branch  of  formative  art  ;  architecture,  sculpture, 
decorative  design,  and  imitative  painting,  which  are  all 
dependent  upon  the  use  of  materials  for  expression.  In 
the  effort  to  purge  our  art  of  what  was  in  the  nature  of 
bathos,  affected  in  sentiment  and  unworthy  according  to 
wholesome  English  tradition,  we  were  following  the 
example  of  the  poets  of  the  early  Victorian  age.  All 
manly  in  their  vindication  of  virtue,  although  some  spoke 
in  an  over-feminine  tone,  our  exemplars  in  letters  had 
all  been  in  accord  to  prune  English  imagination  of  un- 
wholesome foreign  precedent,  tawdry  glitter,  and  theatrical 
pomposity,  corruptions  which  had  descended  from  the 
attitudinisers  of  the  two  earlier  reigns.  The  literary 
reformers,  still  declaiming  in  our  day,  had  already  re- 
vived the  robust  interest  in  humanity  exercised  by  British 
men  of  genius  in  past  centuries. 

Emulation  in  the  arts  among  different  nationalities 
is  a  righteous  contest.  The  literary  example  set  could 
not  but  stimulate  us,  and  the  history  of  our  movement 
may  perhaps  make  the  struggle  for  British  restraint  more 
than  a  transient  legacy  to  artists  in  the  future,  and  this 
raises  a  new  matter  for  investigation. 

The  doctrine  that  art  has  no  nationality  is  much 
bruited  abroad  and  echoed  by  the  shallow  in  this  day. 
It  sounds  liberal  and  advanced,  but  it  is  altogether  false 
to  the  precedents  of  antiquity.  The  art  of  all  days, 
from  that  of  the  Babylonians  to  our  own,  has  been 
characteristically  national  ;  to  attempt  to  efface  racial 
distinction  in  art  would  have  been  its  destruction.  In 


xvi      PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     467 

these  days  there  is  still  cardinal  difference  between  the 
national  sentiments  of  different  nations,  which  can  scarcely 
be  confused  together  without  injury  to  one  or  other. 
The  technical  qualities  of  British  art  have  often  been 
unfavourably  contrasted  with  those  of  modern  Continental 
schools,  which  have,  it  must  be  allowed,  justly  prided 
themselves  on  correctness  of  form  and  proportion,  and 
thus  have  won  from  casual  judgment  the  reputation 
of  having  the  best  academies  for  drawing.  But  mere 
exactness  of  proportion  is  of  dubious  account  ;  a  lay 
figure  is  perfectly  proportioned,  but  there  is  no  grace  in 
its  form.  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  was  not  so  accurate  a 
draughtsman  as  David,  but  in  grace  he  was  as  Hyperion 
to  a  drayman.  Yet  let  us  learn  correctness  ;  it  will  not 
war  with  beauty  ;  were  it  so,  Greek  and  Italian  marble 
would  not  be  exquisite  ;  but  correctness  may  be  acquired 
at  home.  Flaxman,  Dyce,  and  Watts  developed  their 
drawing  in  England,  and  in  them  never  appeared  impurity 
of  taste.  Students  abroad  run  the  risk  of  insidious  cor- 
ruption of  idea,  and  lose  shame  at  corrupted  innocence. 

Let  no  sentinel,  on  our  confines,  stand  aside  and  allow 
to  pass  the  derider  of  national  purity,  to  whom  the  way 
has  been  barred  by  his  great  predecessors  for  so  many 
centuries. 


CHAPTER    XVII 

RETROSPECT 

The  godly  seed  fares  well, 

The  wicked's  is  accurst. — THEOCRITUS. 

But  as  it  is  in  Nature,  where  from  the  seed  is  first  produced  the 
blade,  then  the  green  ear,  and  lastly,  the  ripe  corn,  so  national  virtues 
sprout  up  first  in  lesser  excellencies,  and  proceed  by  an  easy  grada- 
tion. ...  1  am  no  prophet,  nor  the  son  of  a  prophet  ;  but  considering 
the  necessary  connection  of  causes  and  events,  and  upon  seeing  some 
links  of  that  fatal  chain,  1  will  venture  to  pronounce  that  if  ever  the 
ancient  great  and  beautiful  taste  in  painting  revives,  it  will  be  in 
England  ;  but  not  till  English  painters,  conscious  of  the  dignity  of 
their  country  and  of  their  professions,  resolve  to  do  honour  to  both  by 
piety,  virtue,  magnanimity,  benevolence,  and  industry,  and  a  contempt 
of  everything  that  is  unworthy  of  them. — RICHARDSON  (1792). 

DIFFERENCES  of  blood  cannot  be  ignored  either  in  litera- 
ture or  art.  Nations  may  gain  much  in  emulative  com- 
petition one  with  the  other  ;  but  the  vertebral  effort  of 
each  should  be  on  native  lines,  and  while  reaching  forward 
to  perfection,  it  should  cast  away  what  to  highest  judg- 
ment proves  unworthy.  The  opinion  I  formed  on  my 
first  visit  to  Paris  in  1849,  that  study  for  an  English 
student  in  the  French  schools  was  nearly  always  disastrous, 
resulting  in  destruction  of  the  power  to  develop  the  British 
instinct,  has  since  been  confirmed  ;  indeed  I  have  found 
that  most  men  once  possessed  of  Parisian  sentiment 
seldom  recover  their  native  strain.  Brown  was  a  rare 
exception  to  this  rule.  The  French  School  when  led  by 
Ingres  and  Delaroche  was  richly  and  powerfully  endowed, 

468 


CH.XVII  PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD  469 

and  it  exercised  becoming  restraint  ;  this  justified  high 
respect  for  its  influence  ;  but  now  that  the  foreign 
schools  (I  enlarge  my  term  advisedly,  since  all  Continental 
schools  have  now  adopted  the  Parisian  example)  have 
become  thoroughly  unbridled  in  the  rejection  of  humility, 
and  treat  ignorance  and  carelessness  as  a  proof  of  master- 
liness, evil  is  a  hundredfold  increased.  Drawing  from 
the  life  in  Paris  is  undertaken  without  due  preparation 
from  the  antique,  and  habituates  the  eye  of  the  novice  to 
forms  of  poor  type  disfigured  by  the  wearing  of  artificial 
clothing,  and  the  weak  developments  of  town  life,  to 
which  evil  is  added  the  deadness  of  long-continued  heavy 
posings,  so  that  all  ideas  of  grace  or  motion  are  per- 
manently eradicated  from  the  mind,  and  all  ethereal  ideas, 
the  very  soul  of  art,  are  eliminated.  I  cannot  ignore  a 
growing  prejudice  in  favour  of  an  artist  being  labelled  as 
of  a  "  School,"  using  the  word  as  identical  with  "  Shoal  "  ; 
this  happily  is  not  native  to  British  art,  and  should  be 
guarded  against. 

Independence  of  mind  is  evinced,  both  in  graphic  art  and 
in  literature,  by  manly  scruple  against  sickly  vicious  story 
even  more  than  by  marked  individuality  of  outward  form. 
Of  late  years  continental  taste  has  been  asserting  itself 

'  O 

injuriously  amongst  us  not  only  in  art  and  literature,  but 
more  disastrously  upon  the  stage  ;  and  themes  based  upon 
moral  turpitude,  which  our  standard  fathers  of  the  drama 
rejected,  escape  the  censors'  veto,  and  are  presented  in 
spectacular  form  (that  readiest  in  power  of  appeal  to  the 
people),  making  familiar  and  commonplace  what  else 
was  outlandish  and  abhorrent  to  the  inheritors  of  healthy 
and  sturdy  English  tradition.  Some  writers  indeed  seem 
stirred  by  emulation  to  attract  the  idle-minded  to 
new  excitements,  by  magnifying  latent  horrors  in  life 
as  bequeathed  by  ancestors,  overtaking  helpless  and 
innocent  persons,  and  forming  a  pursuing  destiny  to 
the  inheritors,  in  the  destruction  of  mind  and  body, 
contriving  by  the  wav  to  insinuate  their  sillv  argu- 

O  ^  /  ^  ^  j  O 

ments  against  the  sacredness  of  marriage.       To    tolerate 


470         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

infraction  of  social  laws  adopted  to  keep  a  nation 
innocent  and  happy,  easily  leads  to  the  assumption  that  all 
bridling  of  natural  impulse  is  but  social  convention,  and 
man  is  told  by  dealers  in  modern  materialistic  fantasy 
that  he  is  a  creature  above  whom  rules  a  blind  fate  that 
will  make  virtuous  effort  on  his  part  simply  futile  ;  that 
the  inevitable  destiny  of  heredity  will  make  drunkards, 
or  lead  men  to  criminality  ;  and  that  the  forces  of  the 
outside  world  will  overrule  resolutions  formed  by  a  healthy 
sense  of  responsibility  and  self-control. 

Once  talking  with  Sir  William  Gull  of  the  force  of 
heredity  in  disease,  he  reasoned  that  however  strong  this 
might  be,  there  is  a  counterbalancing  action  in  nature 
which  throws  off  the  taint  and  works  for  perfection ;  other- 
wise the  transmission  of  disease  would  have  destroyed  the 
human  race,  and  all  creation,  ages  ago.  I  commend 
this  scientific  teaching  to  authors  inclined  to  inculcate 
pessimism  and  revolt  against  moral  law,  and  note 
further,  that  were  we  overruled  by  the  habits  of  our 
grandfathers,  the  cultivated  classes  of  to-day  would  not 
have  escaped  the  vice  of  deep  drinking,  or  be  as  temperate 
as  they  undoubtedly  are. 

Wild  revolt  shows  itself  in  the  art  of  our  day  in  the 
form  of  Impressionism. 

The  name  of  Impressionist  as  representing  a  class  of 
modern  artists  is,  it  must  be  owned,  a  widely  bewildering 
one,  for  in  a  collection  of  works  to  which  artists  thus 
designated  contribute,  are  to  be  found  productions  of 
very  varying  types.  The  term  might  have  been  applied 
to  every  artist  even  in  my  earliest  youth,  for  no  one 
ever  dismissed  any  part  of  his  work  without  self- 
inquiry  whether  his  achievement  gave  the  "  impression  " 
of  the  object  represented,  but  then  the  quality  was  only 
considered  to  be  of  value  after  many  other  excellencies 
had  made  a  foundation  for  the  redeeming  grace  to  form 
colour  and  expression.  When  we  Pre-Raphaelites  were 
charged  with  exaggeration  in  our  key  of  colour,  and  were 
told  that  our  pictures  had  all  the  hues  of  the  rainbow. 


xvir     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     471 

we  replied  that  the  brown  shadows  of  old  professors  did  not 
give  the  impression  of  open-air  effect  which  we  had  been 
surprised  to  discover  while  searching  for  the  truth  before 
Nature  herself.  We  registered  prismatic  hues  because  we 
found  that  each  terrestrial  feature  mirrored  the  blue  sky 
and  the  tints  of  its  neighbouring  creations  ;  and  we  main- 
tained that  while  a  part  of  our  picture  by  itself  might 
appear  over-coloured,  it  was  consistent  in  the  impression 
it  gave  of  truth.  I  cannot  understand  the  correctness  of 
the  term  Impressionist  as  representing  the  paramount 
end  of  art.  Undoubtedly  many  of  the  works  classed 
by  the  public  as  impressionistic  have  no  evidence  of  sober 
common  -  sense ;  they  are  without  perspective,  correct 
form,  or  any  signs  of  patient  drilling  and  scholarship. 
They  suggest  suspicion  that  the  workman  never  duly 
submitted  himself  to  persistent  tuition  or  patient  practice, 
and  not  seldom  on  inquiry  it  will  be  found  that  he  took  up 
the  pursuit  of  art  so  late  in  life  as  to  prove  that  he  had 
no  natural  call  from  her  ;  and  he  covers  his  inability  to 
conquer  the  besetting  sins,  which  every  tyro  must  eradi- 
cate from  his  uncultivated  disposition,  by  fine  names  and 
theories.  In  any  case  as  a  beginning  to  an  art  career 
such  practice  is  most  damaging,  and  even  at  the  best  it  is 
liable  to  lead  capable  manipulators  to  a  system  of  work 
representing  the  outside  of  things  only,  and  to  the  im- 
mortalising of  accidental  points  tending  to  caricature,  so 
that  the  soul  of  a  subject  is  lost.  Whether  it  be  right  to 
catalogue  the  hideous  canvases  often  appearing  in  ex- 
hibitions in  recent  days,  chaotic  in  form,  of  sullied 
pigment  plastered  on  offensively,  both  as  to  tint  and 
texture,  as  "  Impressionist  "  and  to  class  as  "  Impressionist  " 
sculptures  of  evil-proportioned  humanity  displaying  a 
series  of  monstrous  developments  in  lieu  of  heavenly- 
designed  muscles,  I  will  not  determine  ;  but  their  makers 
are  now  the  nucleus  of  an  obtrusive  party  in  the  art 
world,  and  being  a  standing  peril  to  honest  and  honour- 
able art,  it  behoves  us  to  find  out  from  what  source  their 
degrading  pretensions  arise.  Such  art  is  the  product 


472         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

solely  of  modern  days,  for  all  previous  students  were 
taught  to  be  reverent  and  careful  in  their  beginnings. 
The  new  growth  has  professedly  come  from  Paris,  which, 
as  we  all  recognise,  in  earlier  days  produced  art  justly 
eliciting  admiration  for  its  able  workmanship,  its  dramatic 
genius,  as  also  for  the  reflection  it  gave  of  the  noble 
qualities  of  the  nation  at  large.  Seeing  that  an  artist 
must  by  his  work  represent  the  nature  dear  to  his  own 
heart,  it  is  incumbent  upon  all  lovers  of  true  art,  having 
the  interest  of  students  in  mind,  to  investigate  the  question 
how  this  poisonous  influence  is  fostered,  and  what  is  the 
environment  which  tends  to  form  the  character  of  those 
exposed  to  it.  No  independent  evidence  collected  from 
sources  undeclared  would  be  taken  as  without  animus  ; 
opportunely  we  are  supplied  by  an  independent  witness 
with  an  appreciative  testimony  on  all  the  phases  of  student 
life  in  the  French  metropolis.  This  is  stated  in  a  book,1 
giving  the  professed  experiences  of  two  American  friends 
studying  in  Paris.  That  the  testimony  is  far  from  veiled 
sarcasm  may  be  judged  from  the  concluding  rhapsodical 
passage  of  the  volume  which  I  cite  later. 

The  Academy  routine  begins  with  the  reception  ot  a 
student  at  the  Beaux-Arts.  After  the  official  enrolment, 
two  orders  of  students  are  spoken  of,  the  "  anciens  "  and 
the  "  nouveaux."  The  writer  describes  his  friend  as  electing 
to  enter  Gerome's  studio.  Among  the  new  students  were 
a  Turk,  a  Hungarian,  a  Siamese,  an  American,  and  five 
provincial  Frenchmen.  "  Five-and-twenty  francs  were 
demanded  for  the  incidental  expenses  of  the  school  and 
for  the  drink."  "  The  Turk  refused,  explaining  that  he 
only  had  thirty  francs  for  his  month's  living,  but  menacing 
stools  and  sticks  opened  his  purse."  "  With  the  money 
collected  they  retired  to  a  cafe,  and  sang  songs  fit  only  for 
the  studio." 

Coarse  horse-play  was  conducted  on  the  part  of  the 
';  anciens  "  against  the  k'  nouveaux."  The  Turk  was  seized 

1    Bohemian   Pt/ris  of'  To-./.-ir,  by  W.    C.    Morrow,  from    notes   by  Edouard 
(,'ucuel.      London  :   Chatto  and  Wind  us,  1899. 


xvn     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     473 

and  bound,  a  mock  branding  being  enacted  upon  him. 
Brutal  threats  and  force  were  used  against  all  those  who 
refused  obedience  to  the  stupid  and  cruel  whims  of  their 
persecutors.  The  Turkish  victim,  being  left  tied  up  on  a 
lofty  shelf,  was  found  in  the  morning  by  the  porter,  having 
developed  an  illness  of  long  and  dangerous  continuance. 

Particulars  are  given  of  the  career  of  poor  models, 
who,  beginning  modestly,  inevitably  engaged  in  a  reckless 
life  as  the  mistresses  of  successive  artists,  and  ended  their 
days  in  suicide. 

The  author  states  that  one  of  these,  famous  for  her 
beauty,  became  the  cause  of  a  "students'  riot  in  1893, 
which  came  near  to  ending  in  a  revolution."  But  she  also 
at  the  last  was  driven  to  desperation,  and  ended  her  life 
violently,  and  "  Paris  laughed  !  " 

The  book  goes  on  to  give  a  description  of  a  Saturnalia 
of  the  "  Quat'z  Arts,"  with  proceedings  too  outrageous  to 
transcribe  here.  The  whole  night  was  spent  in  an  orgie 
in  which  all  sense  of  honest  fun  was  drowned  in  debauchery 
and  blindness  to  that  responsibility  which  every  sane  man 
owes  in  his  dealings  with  his  fellow-men.  The  wild  crew, 
more  or  less  mad,  issued  from  their  den  of  riot  in  the 
early  dawn. 

The  deserted  Rue  Blanche  re-echoed  the  wild  yells  of  the 
revellers.  The  rows  of  heaped  ash-cans  that  lined  the  way  were 
overturned  one  after  another,  and  the  oaths  and  threatening  brooms 
of  the  outraged  concierges  went  for  nothing.  Even  the  poor 
diligent  rag  and  bone  pickers  were  not  spared  ;  their  filled  sacks, 
carrying  the  result  of  their  whole  night's  hunt,  were  taken  from 
them  and  emptied.  A  string  of  carts  laden  with  stone  were 
captured  near  the  Rue  Lafayette,  the  drivers  deposed,  and  the  big 
horses  sent  plunging  through  Paris,  driven  by  Roman  charioteers. 
Within  the  court  of  the  Louvre  was  drawn  up  a  regiment  of  the 
Garde  Municipale  going  through  the  morning  drill,  but  when  the 
mob  of  Greek  and  Roman  warriors  flung  themselves  bodily  upon 
the  ranks  of  the  guard,  ousted  the  officers,  and  assumed  command, 
there  was  consternation  ;  the  drill  was  turned  into  a  farce  ;  the 
officers,  furious  at  first,  could  not  resist  the  spirit  of  pure  fun,  but 
took  their  revenue  bv  kissing  the  models  and  making  them  dance. 


474         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

The  story  goes  on  to  describe  this  student  life  as  the 
acknowledged  preparation  for  the  artistic  career,  and  the 
writer's  friend  seems  to  have  taken  part  in  all  the  Saturnalia 
and  misrule  with  zest,  without  a  thought  of  his  being 
answerable  for  his  share  in  the  inferno  which  consigned 
so  many  human  lives  to  infamy  and  despair.  Speaking  of 
one  student,  it  is  said  :— 

He  came  to  Paris  thirteen  years  before  to  study,  with  an 
allowance  from  his  father  of  roo  francs  a  month.  The  young 
man  studied  diligently  for  a  while,  but  soon  found  the  easy  life  of 
the  cafe,  with  the  models  for  companions,  more  fascinating  than 
the  dull  grind  of  the  school.  It  was  much  pleasanter  to  enjoy  the 
gaiety  of  the  nights  and  sleep  all  day  than  drone  and  labour  at  his 
easel.  He  fell  deeply  in  debt,  and  gave  more  heed  to  absinthe  than 
to  meals.  For  a  whole  year  his  father  was  in  total  ignorance  of 
his  son's  conduct  ;  but  one  day  a  friend  laid  the  ugly  story  before 
him.  He  instantly  stopped  the  remittances  and  disowned  his  son, 
but  there  was  his  mistress  always  faithful  to  him;  she  shared  her 
small  earnings  with  him.  He  had  just  gone  the  way  of  many  and 
many  another,  and  others  are  following  in  his  steps,  deluding  self- 
denying  parents  and  setting  foot  on  the  road  which,  so  broad  and 
shining  at  the  beginning,  narrows  and  darkens  as  it  leads  nearer 
and  nearer  to  the  rat-holes  under  the  bridges  of  the  Seine. 

Passing  by  record  of  entertainments  whose  attractive- 
ness consists  in  the  mockery  of  all  the  most  sacred  and 
deepest  interests  of  life,  we  come  to  the  concluding  passage 
in  the  book,  which  proves  the  author's  undisturbed  con- 
viction that  the  life  described  is  the  perfect  preparation 
for  the  artist's  career  :— 

Dear  old  Paris  !  wonderful,  bewildering  Paris !  alluring, 
enchanting  Paris  !  Our  student,  years  are  now  just  ended,  and 
Paris  is  already  so  crowded  with  workers  who  cannot  bear  to 
leave  it,  that  we  must  seek  our  fortune  in  other  and  duller  parts 
of  the  world.  But  Paris  has  ineradicably  impressed  itself  upon 
us.  We  have  lived  its  life  ;  we  have  been  a  part  of  its  throbbing, 
working,  achieving  individuality.  What  we  take  away  will  be 
of  imperishable  value,  the  salt  and  leaven  of  our  hopes  and  efforts 
for  ever. 

We  put  down  the  book  recognising  it  to  be  a  suffi- 


xvn     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     475 

cient  explanation  of  the  source  whence  issues  the  bare 
idea  that  art  is  only  admirable  when  severed  from  moral 
ideals,  and  is  alone  worthy  to  be  wildly  extolled  when 
the  artist,  degraded  in  mind  and  crippled  in  all  his  powers 
of  representation  and  expression,  has  produced  on  his 
canvas  or  in  his  clay  the  inevitable  result  of  idleness, 
dissipation,  and  corrupted  taste.  The  critics  trained 
under  the  same  libertinage  naturally  ridicule  the  creed  that 
art  should  perform  a  wholesome  and  divine  service  to 
humanity.  In  England,  whatever  misleading  spirit  has 
exercised  itself,  no  such  corrupting  influence  has  hitherto 
been  poisoning  the  art  student's  ideals.  The  standing 
misfortune  in  England  is  that  our  Governments  treat  the 
pursuit  as  but  of  trifling  importance,  and  deserving  in- 
adequate protection  for  the  artist's  property  in  design, 
which  costs  much  more  time  than  the  mere  painting  of 
the  surface,  or  the  shaping  a  solid  mass  into  a  sculptur- 
esque form.  Invention  in  art  is  a  very  sensitive  vitality, 
and  will  soon  cease  if  it  be  left  open  to  the  piracy  of  chance 
photographers  and  conductors  of  illustrated  periodicals. 
When  the  goose  which  laid  the  golden  egg  was  killed, 
the  greedy  slaughterers  were  not  the  last  to  suffer. 

Public  men  speaking  on  the  subject  generally  assume 
that  England  has  little  pretension  to  eminence,  and  they 
say  this  in  the  face  of  the  fact  that  she  has  to  show,  not- 
withstanding meagre  encouragement,  a  richer  array  of  in- 
spired artists  than  any  other  modern  country  has  produced. 

With  this  established  prejudice  it  is  natural  that 
journalistic  correspondents  abroad,  hearing  of  some  lumi- 
nary that  has  appeared  on  their  horizon,  should  hastily 
accept  the  report  and  transmit  it  as  of  celestial  importance, 
while,  in  fact,  a  more  accurate  investigation  may  prove 
that  the  "  luminary  "  is  only  a  poor  bonfire.  Of  the 
inferiority  of  native  talent,  and  the  assumption  that 
English  patronage  is  sufficient  for  all  applicants  from 
abroad  as  well  as,  and  in  preference  to,  those  at  home,  they 
have  no  doubt  whatever.  The  love  on  the  part  of  the 
public  of  a  new  surprise,  and  the  traditional  inclination 


4?6         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

in  favour  of  any  alien  genius,  causes  a  quick  response  in 
England,  and  in  a  short  time  his  works  are  brought  here, 
which  often  in  his  own  country  are  stamped  as  of  inferior 
grade.  This  in  the  course  of  my  experience  has  had  a  very 
mischievous  effect,  although  the  stranger's  reputation  thus 
established  has  generally  lasted  but  a  short  time,  yet  before 
its  close  it  is  succeeded  by  a  new  "light,"  which  again 
dazzles  the  eyes  of  fashion  to  the  degradation  and  con- 
fusion of  our  national  taste.1 

The  early  uprising  of  English  art  was  destroyed  in  the 
time  of  Richard  II.  by  internecine  war,  and  this  barrier 
continued  until  the  English  Reformation,  when  the  dread 
of  image  worship  caused  limners  to  be  regarded  as 
little  different  from  servants  of  the  Evil  One.  When 
at  last  a  lull  occurred  in  the  religious  struggle,  the  affluent 
desiring  works  of  art  (since  the  simplest  excellence 
cannot  be  developed  under  at  least  a  generation)  had 
to  welcome  artists  from  the  Continent  to  paint  their 
portraits  and  carve  their  monuments.  Notwithstand- 
ing the  greatness  of  Holbein  and  Antonio  Moore,  they 
found  yet  an  honest,  if  unfashionable,  rival  in  Butte, 
the  Englishman,  and  he  could  scarcely  have  been  alone. 
The  progress  of  the  Reformation  and  the  iconoclasm 
it  produced  kept  any  native  school  from  developing  ; 
but  the  steady  art  instinct  in  our  race  stirred  the  hope 
to  obtain  recognition,  as  was  seen  a  generation  later 
by  the  works  of  Oliver,  Cooper,  Dobson,  and  Walker; 
these  men  struggled  not  ingloriously  while  Rubens  and 
Vandyke  were  holding  the  field.  In  the  opportunities 
exclusively  given  to  Lely  and  Kneller  to  supply  the 
fashionable  world  with  likenesses  there  was  continuing 
proof  that  British  artists  were  altogether  at  a  discount, 
so  that  at  the  commencement  of  the  eighteenth  century 
there  was  no  open  sign  that  any  strong  English 
art  existed.  But  Hogarth,  Reynolds,  Raeburn,  Gains- 

1  In  stating  the  general  case  it  would  be  \vron»-  not  to  make  certain 
exceptions,  as,  tor  instance,  that  of  M.  Lanteri,  whose  services,  as  head  ot  the 
Sculpture  School  at  South  Kensington,  are  above  praise. 


xvn     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     477 

borough,  and  Romney  were  too  strong  to  be  suppressed, 
and  they  produced  an  art  that  was  pre  -  eminently 
altogether  in  unison  with  the  spirit  of  British  poetry, 
healthy,  robust,  and  superior  to  maudlin  sentimentality 
and  vice  glamoured  over  with  fevered  tears.  In  our  youth 
wholesome  ideas  of  conduct  still  survived,  although  often 
weakened  by  indulgence  in  cheap  display.  Certainly  at  this 
time  there  was  a  strong  reason  to  feel  the  desperateness  of 
the  struggle  for  any  young  artists  like  ourselves.  To 
attempt  art  reform  with  any  immediate  reliance  upon  the 
judgment  of  the  wealthy  would  have  been  blind  indeed  ; 
it  was  soon  too  apparent  that  they  had  no  thought  that 
art  could  have  power  to  perpetuate  the  vitality  of  a 
nation  ;  indeed  art  patrons  were  seldom  independent 
enough  to  avoid  the  influence  of  the  passing  fashion. 

In  fact,  they  regarded  their  taste  as  an  idle  fancy  which 
needed  excuse,  and  did  not  invite  patriotic  judgment,  lest 
this  should  remind  them  of  past  evils  denounced  as 
idolatrous  by  the  reformers. 

The  true  British  distinction  of  art  must  not  be 
impaired,  and  the  energy  of  its  leaders  to  keep  it  pure 
must  not  be  frustrated.  It  is  gratifying  to  single  out 
an  example  of  those  in  authority  valuing  the  importance 
of  national  art.  At  the  opening  of  the  Exhibition  at 
Delhi,  Lord  Curzon  took  occasion  to  speak  from  his 
vice-regal  seat  on  the  Decline  of  Indian  Decorative  Art 
as  follows  :— 

Since  I  have  been  in  India  I  have  made  a  careful  study  of 
the  arts,  industries,  and  handicrafts  of  the  country,  and  have 
lamented  their  progressive  deterioration  and  decline.  .  .  .  Being 
conscious  that  taste  was  declining,  and  that  many  of  the  modern 
models  were  debased  and  bad,  we  have  endeavoured  to  set  up 
alongside  the  products  of  the  present  standards  and  samples 
of  the  past.  This  is  the  meaning  of  the  loan  collection,  which 
has  a  special  hall  where  you  will  see  many  beautiful  specimens  of 
old  Indian  art-ware.  .  .  .  Many  of  these  objects  are  beautiful 
in  themselves,  but  we  hope  the  Indian  workmen  here,  and  also 
the  patrons  who  employ  them,  will  study  them,  not  merelv  as 
objects  of  antiquarian  or  artistic  interest,  but  as  supplying  them 


478         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

with  fresh  or  rather  resuscitated  ideas  which  may  be  useful  as 
inspiring  their  own  work  in  the  future.  This  may  be  laid  down 
as  a  truism  that  Indian  art  can  never  be  revived  by  borrowing 
foreign  ideas,  but  only  by  fidelity  to  its  own.  .  .  .  All  that  is 
inevitable,  and  in  an  age  which  wants  things  cheap  and  does  not 
mind  their  being  ugly,  which  cares  a  good  deal  for  comfort  and  not 
much  for  beauty,  which  is  never  happy  unless  when  asserting  its 
own  models  and  traditions,  and  running  about  in  quest  of  some- 
thing foreign  or  strange,  we  may  be  certain  that  a  great  many 
old  arts  and  handicrafts  are  doomed.  There  is  another  symptom 
that  to  my  mind  is  even  more  ominous.  I  am  one  of  those,  as 
I  said,  who  believe  that  no  national  art  is  capable  of  continued 
existence  unless  it  satisfies  the  ideals  and  expresses  the  wants  of 
the  nation  that  produced  it.  No  art  can  be  kept  alive  by  globe- 
trotters or  curio-hunters  alone.  If  it  has  got  to  that  point  it 
becomes  a  mere  mechanical  reproduction  of  a  certain  fashionable 
pattern,  and  when  the  fashion  changes,  and  it  ceases  to  be 
popular,  it  dies.  If  Indian  art,  therefore,  is  to  continue  to 
flourish  or  is  to  be  revived,  that  can  only  be  if  the  Indian  chiefs 
and  aristocracy  and  people  of  culture  and  high  degree  undertake 
to  patronise  it.  So  long  as  they  prefer  to  fill  their  palaces  with 
flaming  Brussels  carpets,  Tottenham  Court  Road  furniture, 
cheap  Italian  mosaics,  French  oleographs,  Austrian  lustres, 
German  tissues,  and  cheap  brocades,  I  fear  there  is  not  much 
hope.  I  speak  in  no  terms  of  reproach,  because  I  think  in 
England  we  are  just  as  bad  in  the  pursuit  of  anything  that  takes 
our  fancy  in  foreign  lands,  but  I  do  say  that  if  Indian  arts  and 
handicrafts  are  to  be  kept  alive,  it  can  never  be  by  outside 
patronage  alone.  It  can  only  be  because  they  find  a  market 
within  the  country,  and  express  the  ideas  and  culture  of  the 
people.  I  should  like  to  see  a  movement  spring  up  among  the 
Indian  chiefs  and  nobility  for  the  expurgation,  or  at  any  rate  the 
purification  of  modern  tastes,  for  a  reversion  to  the  old-fashioned 
but  exquisite  styles  and  patterns  of  their  own  country.  Some 
day  I  have  no  doubt  it  will  come,  but  it  may  then  be  too  late. 
If  these  are  the  omens,  what  then  is  the  aim  of  the  Exhibition, 
and  what  purpose  do  I  think  it  will  serve  ?  I  can  answer  in  a 
word.  The  Exhibition  is  intended  as  an  object  lesson.  It  is 
meant  to  show  what  India  can  still  imagine  and  create.  It  is 
meant  to  show  that  the  artistic  sense  is  not  dead  amongst  its 
workmen,  but  that  all  they  want  is  a  little  stimulus  and  encour- 
agement. It  is  meant  to  show  that  for  the  beautification  of  an 
Indian  house,  or  the  furniture  of  an  Indian  home,  there  is  no 
need  to  rush  to  European  shops  in  Calcutta  or  Bombay,  but  that 


xvn     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     479 

in  almost  every  Indian  state  or  province,  in  most  Indian  towns 
and  many  Indian  villages,  there  still  survives  Art,  there  still 
exist  artificers  who  can  satisfy  the  artistic  as  well  as  the  utilitarian 
tastes  of  their  countrymen,  and  who  are  competent  to  keep  alive 
this  precious  inheritance  which  we  have  derived  from  the  past. 

The  principle  so  ably  expounded  by  Lord  Curzon  is 
one  which  it  is  needful  to  apply  to  our  art  at  home. 

Another  healthy  sign  of  discriminating  taste  in  this 
much  confused  day  is  given  by  the  German  Emperor,  who 
refuses  to  follow  the  present  craze  in  the  fatherland  for 
startling  materialistic  art  and  other  unpoetic  effusions  in 
painting  and  sculpture,  and  directs  the  painters  and 
sculptors  to  an  ideal  of  elevating  character.  If  our  rulers, 
while  there  is  yet  time,  will  deign  to  recognise  art  as  of 
national  value,  they  will  soon  see  that  its  preciousness 
depends  upon  inventive  design,  and  that  representation 
devoid  of  inner  spirit  descends  in  value  according  to  its 
mental  emptiness,  and  that  since  inner  life  in  art  costs  its 
creator  incalculable  deliberation  and  devotion,  it  is  essential 
that  this  energy,  translated  into  personal  property,  should 
be  protected  by  the  State.  The  weakness  of  the  present 
law  of  copyright  in  its  protection  of  invention  at  this 
time  threatens  the  speedy  extinction  of  design  ;  the 
object  of  legislation  should  be  to  encourage  that  work 
which  enshrines  a  cardinal  idea  and  graces  it  with  attendant 
imaginings,  all  echoing  and  intensifying  the  main  subject, 
so  that  the  mind  of  the  observer  may  wander  about  all  the 
lines  and  hues  of  the  picture,  with  a  pleasure  resulting 
from  awakening  recognition  that  each  bears  evidence  of 
the  exercise  of  subtle  judgment,  and  of  a  sovereign  mind 
in  selection. 

Let  me  reiterate,  inventiveness  does  not  necessarily 
mean  insistence  upon  moral  purpose.  Titian's  "  Bacchus 
and  Ariadne,"  for  instance,  has  no  ethical  preachment  in 
it.  Pity  even  for  the  forlorn  Ariadne  is  only  reflected  as 
an  interest  of  the  past.  To  understand  the  inventiveness 
of  Titian,  we  will  imagine  him  wandering  in  spirit,  invisibly 
haunting  this  hollow  grove,  when  still  unpeopled,  delighting 


480         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE      CHAP. 

in  the  calm  freshness  of  the  early  morning  as  it  quickens 
the  sylvan  solitude,  breathes  over  the  neighbouring  town 
on  the  promontory  beyond,  furrows  the  sea  and  fills  the 
sails  of  the  dancing  boat  as  it  ploughs  its  way  towards  the 
horizon. 

Into  this  peaceful  scene  a  damsel  intrudes,  sighing 
over  her  false  departed  lover  ;  the  whole  landscape 
responds  to  the  mournful  note  of  her  bereavement,  and 
would  seem  responsive  only  to  this.  Her  attention  is 
erewhile  startled  by  distant  notes,  which  grow  into 
clamorous  music.  With  clang  and  clatter  Bacchus  and 
his  blithesome  crew  come  in.  The  worship  of  Dionysos 
had  found  justification  in  the  thought  that  antique  poetry 
and  philosophy  were  overburdening  the  world  with 
sorrow.  In  the  progress  of  human  speculation  upon  the 
mysteries  of  life,  all  races  felt  the  need  of  rebound 
from  dejection  at  the  woefulness  of  fate,  and  every  great 
people  imagined  means  of  alleviation.  Before  the  approach 
of  Bacchus  the  fate  of  Ariadne  was  one  of  profound 
melancholy,  as  all  poets  dealing  alone  with  her  story  have 
left  it. 

The  Greeks  interpreted  the  call  to  renunciation  of 
overbearing  distress,  in  such  unbridled  fashion,  that  at 
many  festivals  of  Dionysos  they  indulged  in  the  maddest 
excesses.  Titian,  true  to  Catullus,  depicts  the  votaries 
as  free  from  extravagance,  if  we  overlook  signs  of  deep 
potations  of  the  blood  of  the  grape.  The  Maenads, 
Satyrs,  Fauns,  and  Bacchantes  are  intoxicated  with  joy, 
leaving  no  beings  present  quite  sober  except  the  ass 
bestrode  by  Silenusr  and  the  leopards  in  the  car  of  the 
god.  The  nymphs  are  marking  time  with  tambourine, 
horn,  and  cymbals,  while  the  fauns  are  carrying  portions 
of  the  sacrifice  for  their  feast.  In  this  meeting  with  the 
god  of  revelry  the  heaviness  of  soul  felt  by  the  erewhile 
hapless  Ariadne  is  transformed  into  lightness  of  spirit. 
Looking  around  at  the  jovial  care-chasing  crew  and  their 
merriment,  she  has  become  somewhat  transfused  into 
responsiveness. 


xvn     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     481 

Each  follower  adds  his  testimony  to  the  joys  of  life, 
all  are  in  mad,  careless  frolic,  and  even  the  trees  seem  to 
dance  their  leaves  in  tune  to  this  jocundity  of  spirit,  while 
the  heavens  display  Ariadne's  crown  of  stars. 

The  bridegroom  himself  bounds  forward  as  one  who 
might  swim  the  air  without  fear  of  falling. 

The  happy  combination  of  parts  making  up  the 
picture  proves  the  artist's  exercise  of  judgment  as  to 
forms,  just  as  the  orderly  juxtaposition  of  hues  and  the 
refined  perfecting  of  tones  witness  to  his  fastidious  sense 
of  colour,  excellences  which  could  not  be  attained  without 
patient  devotion  of  a  consummate  inventor  ;  thus  the 
painting  is  exalted  above  all  representations  which  are 
only  of  prosaic  ambition.  It  is  essentially  a  work  of 
mighty  fancy  offering  refreshing  delight  to  man. 

In  old  time  the  idea  in  a  picture  was  prized  as  much 
as  that  in  a  book.  In  the  variety  of  the  artist's  choice  he 
in  turn  treated  subjects  uncomplicated  by  dramatic  story, 
yet  all  his  work  remaining  to  us  which  "  time  cannot  stale," 
bore  evidence  of  having  passed  through  the  alembic  of  the 
author's  mind  ;  thus  they  were  his  property  and  claimed 
defence,  as  all  personal  possessions  do. 

The  English  legislature  has  given  protection  to  ideas 
only  in  a  half-hearted  way,  and  inventive  art  is  decaying, 
as,  twenty  years  ago,1  I  predicted  it  must  do  under  non- 
protection.  When  a  Government  boldly  extended  its  hand 
for  the  encouragement  of  art  by  inviting  contributions  of 
subjects  for  a  cartoon  competition  at  Westminster  Hall, 
the  public  manifested  surprising  interest  in  the  collection 
brought  together,  and  it  may  be  said  that  the  influence  of 
the  act  was  of  far-reaching  importance,  perhaps  more  than 
it  is  possible  fully  to  estimate.  Recent  governments  have 
exercised  generosity  in  the  extended  education  of  art,  but 
this  has  been  so  directed  as  to  attract  to  the  profession 
many  uninspired  youths  who  might  have  been  more 
appropriately  employed  in  other  pursuits,  seeing  that  when 
trained  to  their  highest  manipulative  power  they  are  still 

1  Nineteenth  Century  Magazine. 
VOL.    II  2    I 


482         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

destitute  of  inventive  faculty,  and  can  have  no  beneficial 
future  as  artists. 

Our  rulers  should  certainly  guard  the  possibilities 
of  those  few  who,  battling  against  great  difficulties,  have 
at  last  proved  their  power  to  maintain  the  glory  which, 
since  Hogarth,  English  painters  have  wrested  from  the 
maws  of  ignorance,  indifference,  and  shallow  self- 
confidence.  To  stultify  frequent  assertions  that  Pre- 
Raphaelitism  only  valued  designs  which  incorporated 
symbolic  ideas  for  the  enforcement  of  the  higher  life,  the 
expression  of  my  admiration  for  Titian's  Bacchanalian 
masterpiece  will  suffice.  It  must  be  admitted  that  we 
often  indulged  our  invention  in  didactic  purpose,  and 
therefore  the  characterisation  of  our  view  as  narrow  has 
been  somewhat  accepted.  Let  me  plead  in  extenuation 
that  we  were  never  given  free  scope  to  put  in  practice  our 
fullest  ambition,  but  we  distinctly  enforced  our  aesthetic 
aims  in  the  themes  we  treated,  selecting  beautiful  objects 
for  fastidious  discrimination  in  their  portrayal. 

In  declaring  the  broad  catholicity  of  views  we  enter- 
tained, I  must  ever  insist  that  there  are  confines  to  sound 
principle  within  which  only  it  can  be  said  that  art  is  an 
inestimable  blessing  to  civilisation,  wherein  it  should  unite 
with  other  powers  to  promote  orderly  purpose,  and  should 
denounce  the  pride  of  irresponsibility  together  with  that 
dissectional  spirit  which  proclaims  that  art  has  no  con- 
nection with  morals.  The  eternal  test  of  good  art  is 
the  influence  it  is  calculated  to  have  on  the  world,  and, 
actuated  by  patriotism,  all  propagandists  will  consider 
first  the  influence  of  their  teaching  upon  their  own  nation. 
What  the  people  are  led  to  admire,  that  they  will  in- 
fallibly become.  When  a  nation  is  fascinated  by  flippancy 
and  mockery  of  innocence  and  sincerity,  the  men  and 
women  composing  it  will  incontinently  entertain  disdain 
for  serious  conduct.  Approval  of  crafty  deception  will 
ere  long  draw  the  onlooker  into  the  whirl  of  cunning 
falsehood.  Toleration  of  pride  will  bring  its  worshippers 
to  haughtiness  and  contempt  of  honest  simplicity.  The 


xvii     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     483 

mocking  of  self-restraint  will  conduct  the  tide-driven  to 
practical  impurity,  and  if  the  principles  of  moral  conduct 
are  not  honoured  in  art,  it  will  encourage  the  ties  of  social 
life  to  be  relaxed,  and,  leaving  the  force  of  heredity  out  of 
mind,  children  will  grow  up  with  loosened  ideals  of  family 
honour.  It  is  in  following  such  seductive  invitations  that 
the  foundations  of  a  nation  are  sapped,  so  that  it  drifts  to 
the  cataract  of  destruction.  Man  sees  other  men  in  the 
mirror  of  his  own  character,  and  every  unit  has  its  power 
in  society  either  to  build  up  with  integrity  or  to  disinteg- 
rate with  guile.  It  is  in  the  spreading  of  personal  irre- 
sponsibility that  a  nation  becomes  effete.  Refusing  one's 
own  strength  for  combination  to  hold  up  the  pillars  of  the 
State  saps  Society,  until  Cain's  cry,  "  Am  I  my  brother's 
keeper  ?  "  brings  about  its  downfall. 

We  must  not,  as  many  have  done,  mock  at  the 
co-relation  of  consequences  with  the  habitual  complexion 
of  our  own  thoughts. 

The  dissolution  of  a  people's  strength  begins  with  sickly 
literature  and  base  art.  We  may  admit  brilliancy  in  the 
genius  that  uses  its  tinsel  to  make  men  laugh  at  self- 
government  and  honour,  and  to  encourage  amusing 
reversals  of  justice,  making  disorder  pass  for  the  only 
gaiety  of  life.  Of  old  with  the  philosophers  there  were 
sophists  "  who  made  the  worse  appear  the  better  reason  "  ; 
they  were  brothers  to  the  prophets,  prophesying  smooth 
things. 

We  must  judge  trees  by  their  fruits,  never  deluded  by 
the  enticing  exterior  of  the  poisonous  night-shade  or  the 
gaudy  hues  of  the  deadly  toadstool.  Convincedly  per- 
suaded of  its  folly,  we  can  afford  with  disdain  to  turn 
away  from  the  profession  of  superiority  which  the  teachers 
of  a  licentious  and  irresponsible  creed  assume.  Beautiful 
design  blossomed  into  the  world  to  irradiate  perfect 
creation,  and  its  bane  is  the  enemy  walking  behind  the 
sower  of  corn,  scattering  poisonous  seed  that  it  may  be 
reaped  with  the  life-giving  wheat,  infallibly  bringing  death 
to  the  foolish  eater. 


484         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Our  national  spirit  as  displayed  by  writers  and  artists 
is  not  straight-laced  ;  they  have  been  no  repudiators  of 
good-humour.  Human  nature  in  all  its  varieties  has  ever 

o 

been  dear  to  them  ;  they  have  not  scrupled  to  dwell  on 
redeeming  features  in  the  worst  characters,  but  from  the 
beginning  they  did  not  tolerate  mawkish  sentiment  for 
the  vicious,  whose  crimes  were  committed  shamelessly  in 
defiance  of  natural  honour.  By  such  national  renunciation 
our  fathers  gained  rather  than  lost  in  power  of  gladness 
and  humour,  for  those  unwinnowing  writers  who  traded 
on  false  sentiment,  and  the  Regency  sentimentalists 
who  imitated  them  in  unbridled  licence,  were  a  lugubrious 
crew,  while  the  pure  Briton  has  ever  lightened  his 
philosophy  with  brilliant  scintillations  of  wit  and  healthy 
laughter. 

Every  man  of  us  must  eschew  that  which  is  worn  out 
and  obsolete,  casting  it  away  because  death  brings  corrup- 
tion. We  are  not  here  merely  to  echo  the  imaginations  and 
sentiments  of  our  forerunners  ;  we  have  to  collect  some- 
thing fresh  for  our  children.  Some  tell  us  that  we  have  no 

o 

duties,  as  there  is  no  master  who  will  ever  examine 
our  toll  of  work.  Let  these  be  assured  in  the  words  of 
Addison,  "  We  will  do  more  than  succeed,  we  will  deserve 
success,"  and  leave  the  issue  to  be  what  it  may. 

I  must  speak  here  more  emphatically  against  servile 
medievalism.  Students  should  never  be  enticed  to  meander 
among  the  graves,  piping  resurrected  strains,  sweet  though 
they  may  be,  forgetful  of  their  own  life-battle.  Columbus 
was  the  discoverer  of  a  new  world,  and  Vasco  de  Gama 
of  new  sea-roads.  If  you  will  have  it  so,  the  heavens  were 
blank  and  careless  as  they  looked  down  upon  the  little 
ships,  resolutely  tracking  the  pathless  waters  across  the 
virginal  sphere.  If  these  mariners  won  nothing  for  them- 
selves, they  gained  a  world  for  its  future  children. 

The  name  of  the  enterprising  navigator  is  not  always 
given  to  the  continent  which  his  courage  helped  him 
to  discover  ;  but  this  is  of  small  moment  in  the  long 
future  ;  his  object  is  gained  in  the  discovery,  in  the 


xvii     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     485 

peopling  and  establishing  of  activity,  in  place  of  stag- 
nation. We  do  not  regard  as  discoverers  men  who  now 

D 

go  the  same  voyage  ;  we  should  only  laugh  at  them  if 
they  made  caravels  of  the  fashion  of  those  used  four 
hundred  years  ago.  Antiquity  claims  our  high  regard,  and 
it  demands  our  gratitude  for  the  blessings  which  it  left  to 
us,  but  in  its  remains  there  is  much  that,  having  done  its 
healthy  work  for  its  own  time,  is  now  devoid  of  vitality. 
Together  with  what  is  thus  unprofitable  to  modern  minds, 
there  are  relics  of  barbaric  thought  and  creed,  the  revival 
of  which  can  only  make  for  evil.  Take,  for  example, 
Dante's  enforcement  of  the  idea  of  eternity  of  punishment 
with  all  its  horrors  in  the  "  Inferno,"  in  which  the  painters 
follow  him.  We  palliate  the  view  in  both  as  survivals  of 
earlier  time,  but  we  must  not  excuse  those  who  in  the 
present  day  exhume  such  ideas.  The  spokesman  of  our 
race  said — 

"...   Or  to  be  worse  than  worst 
Of  those,  that  lawless  and  incertain  thought 
Imagine  howling  :   'tis  too  horrible  !  " 

It  is  a  fatal  betrayal  of  reverence  when  gratitude  to  fore- 
runners leads  men  to  slavish  idolatry  towards  them  ;  in 
their  own  time  their  freest  thoughts  formed  ever-ascending 
steps  on  which  after-comers  could  mount  upwards. 

The  nineteenth  century  will  be  known  as  an  age  of 
"  revivals."  Literary  mediaeval  resuscitations  began  first 
perhaps  in  England,  but  accentuated  feminine  develop- 
ment of  the  Italian  Renaissance  in  graphic  art  came  to  us 
through  a  narrow  section  of  the  Germans.  The  gratitude 
of  the  world  for  the  excellence  of  the  productions  of  the  past 
transiently  endowed  their  modern  imitations  with  a  sweeter 
taste  than  unripened  works  with  a  new  flavour  are  at  first 
found  to  possess.  The  imitator's  task  being  a  pleasant  and 
easy  one,  the  resemblance  of  the  work  to  its  prototype 
gains  for  it  a  more  impetuous  welcome  than  is  accorded 
to  the  less  mature  achievements  of  original  inspiration. 


486         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

These  last,  unfamiliar  to  the  eye,  are  precluded  by  their 
strangeness  from  immediate  reception.  There  is  scarcely 
danger  of  shipwreck  on  the  well-sounded  waters  of  a  tidal 
service,  while  there  is  frequent  peril  to  a  ship  on  an 
unknown  sea.  It  has  seemed  to  me  right  to  warn 
the  world  against  what  may  be  called  servility  to 
antiquity,  but  our  present  danger  is  a  cry  of  opposite 
tenor,  that  artists  should  begin  their  practice  without  the 
equipment  which  the  teaching  of  their  great  precursors 
gives.  He  is  only  a  quack  who  commences  ministering  to 
the  sick  in  ignorance  of  those  carefully  tested  experiments 
which  have  led  to  modern  methods  of  healing,  for  while 
the  traditions  of  the  ancients  must  not  be  accepted  as 
binding,  all  that  they  said  and  did  demands  thought  from 
the  attentive  physician,  an  equal  docility  is  called  for 
from  beginners  in  art.  To  be  ignorant  of  the  stages  by 
which  the  great  masters  arrived  at  their  pre-eminence,  and 
to  be  indifferent  to  the  studied  training  of  the  eye  and 
hand  which  they  underwent,  is  a  besotted  course. 

Present  exhibitions  of  painting  and  sculpture,  so  full 
of  productions  that  show  disregard  or  defiance  of  the 
fundamental  principles  of  sanity  and  reverence,  supply 
proof  that  quackery  is  in  highest  favour  ;  and  the  timid 
spectator  (dismayed  at  the  abominations)  is  told  by  the 
adorers  of  such  uncultivated  outpourings  that  not  to 
admire  is  to  be  a  Philistine  ;  that  the  chaotic  mass  called 
a  work  of  art  is  really  the  product  of  the  most  modern, 
and  therefore  the  most  advanced  thought. 

One  stamp  of  great  art  in  all  ages  was  the  artist's  love 
and  caretaking  of  the  materials  in  which  he  expressed  his 
meaning.  In  his  hands  common  clay  was  impressed  with 
sacred  value,  as  with  the  seal  of  divinity.  Marble  under 
his  chisel  sang  itself  into  the  holiness  of  the  image  of  the 
gods,  and  paint  drawn  from  the  earth,  and  the  juices  of 
perishing  plants,  by  the  artist's  cunning  became  more 
entrancing  than  the  precious  stones  that  decorate  a  king's 
crown  or  a  princess's  robe.  But  the  more  ignorantly  and 
recklessly  the  ductile  stuff  is  handled  by  the  irreverent 


xvii     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     487 

innovator,  the  louder  he  is  hailed  as  the  master  and  true 
apostle  of  modernity.  From  what  wild  caverns  such  spirit 
emanates  is  a  question  of  vital  importance,  and  search 
should  be  made,  with  the  conviction  that  by  discovery 
of  its  source  must  come  deliverance  for  art.  Assuredly 
if  left  unquestioned,  the  rioters  of  the  profession  will 
encourage  the  existing  suspicion  that  the  term  "  men 
of  genius "  is  only  another  for  those  who  suffer  from 
an  aberration  of  intelligence. 

Artists  of  old  continuously  worked  with  the  desire  to 
satisfy  the  longing  for  the  larger  and  nobler  instincts  of 
man — obedience  to  which  is  morality.  Sir  John  Seeley,1 
with  no  better  authority  for  his  declaration  than  hearsay, 
states  that  "  all  artists  are  immoral  men,"  and  there  may 
be  doubt  whether  the  verdict  would  generally  create  sur- 
prise in  persons  to  whom  the  formula  that  "  art  has  no 
connection  with  morals  "  is  continuously  proclaimed  by 
art  experts.  Perhaps  those  persons  who  do  not  recognise 
the  duty  of  progress  in  moral  rectitude  from  generation 
to  generation,  are  responsible  for  the  judgment.  It 
would  certainly  condemn  our  entrancing  pursuit  if  to  be 
geniuses  we  were  called  upon  to  follow  Benvenuto  Cellini's 
example  of  homicidal  outrage,  or  if  we  looked  upon 
Raphael's  amours  as  justification  for  laxity  of  manners. 
The  reader  of  the  life  of  Galileo  will  find  that  it  was 
still  incumbent  upon  a  brother  to  furnish  dowries  for  the 
marriage  of  his  sisters,  and  if  he  married  himself  the  laws 
of  society  demanded  of  him  that  he  should  keep  up  a 
costly  establishment  ;  the  great  astronomer  having  in  his 
early  life  established  an  alliance  with  an  esteemed  woman, 
after  his  sisters  were  provided  for,  married  her  as  the 
mother  of  his  children.  Raphael,  had  he  lived,  might 
have  done  this  also ;  in  any  case  customs  of  past  centuries, 
sanctioned  by  the  example  of  Popes  and  Cardinals,  form 
no  precedent  for  men  in  our  own.  It  is  often  said  that 
when  art  was  at  its  highest,  unrestraint  had  but  little  limit. 
The  truth  is  that  Italian  art  arose  in  a  time  of  great 

1    Sec  Natural  Religion,  by  Sir  John  Seeley. 


488          PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

tribulation  producing  earnest  humility  of  spirit,  while 
even  yet  the  Arabs  were  threatening  Italy,  and  when  the 
zeal  of  Francis  of  Assisi  had  newly  kindled  the  spiritual 
life  in  the  offspring  of  the  Goths  settled  in  Italy.  Art 
had  thus  grown  under  trial  and  simplicity,  and  was 
earnest  in  vital  expression.  With  more  settled  law 
came  ease  for  daily  life  and  greater  leisure  for  those 
joys  and  beauties  which  form  the  vocabulary  of  the 
painter's  language. 

While  this  was  tempered  with  truth,  the  gain  was 
altogether  admirable,  and  led  to  the  glorious  epoch  of 
Italian  art.  It  is  difficult  to  mark  where  the  tone  of 
splendour  in  the  work  of  the  artist  overstepped  the  line 
of  pure  restraint,  it  is  certain  that  by  sure  stages  pride  in 
showiness  and  empty  dexterity  caused  art  to  cease  to  be  a 
living  power,  although  it  gained  in  applause  from  the 
general  disintegration  of  high  purpose  in  society.  This 
juxtaposition  of  widely  extolled  art  and  corruption  is  used 
to  support  the  axiom  that  "  art  causes  a  nation's  fall." 
Every  age  has  its  special  trial.  Ours  to-day  arises  from 
an  unprecedented  blight,  which  ignores  the  reflection  of 
heaven's  beauty  in  Nature. 

Instead  of  adorable  pictures  of  nature's  face,  we  are 
offered  representations  of  scenes  that  none  but  those  with 
blunted  feelings  could  contemplate,  not  stopping  short  of 
the  interiors  of  slaughter-houses.  The  degradation  of  art 
is  nothing  less  than  a  sign  of  disease  in  Society. 

But  enough  of  this  humiliating  topic  !  1  must  return 
to  the  defence  of  the  Pre-Raphaelites.  After  fifty  or  sixty 
years,  with  full  count  of  our  disappointments  as  of  our 
successes,  it  may  be  confidently  affirmed  that  the  principle 
of  our  reform  in  art  was  a  sound  one.  With  some  re- 
markable exceptions,  art  in  our  youth  had  become  puerile 
and  doting,  and  it  was  high  time  to  find  a  remedy.  It 
stirred  us  to  proclaim  that  art  should  interpret  to  men 
how  much  more  beautiful  the  world  is,  not  only  in  every 
natural  form,  but  in  every  pure  principle  of  human  life, 
than  they  would  without  her  aid  deem  it  to  be.  If  artists' 


xvii     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     489 

work  misguides  men,  making  them  believe  that  there  is 
no  order  in  creation,  no  wisdom  in  evolution,  decrying  the 
sublime  influences  as  purposeless,  we  shall  indeed  be  a 
sorry  brood  of  men. 

During  my  experience  of  the  incessant  difficulties 
barring  the  artist's  path  in  modern  days,  I  often  doubted 
whether  writers  on  art  in  their  confident  utterances 
realise  the  enormous  influence  they  exercise  upon  its 
current  fortunes.  Any  one  who  has  read  the  foregoing 
history  without  bias  will  not  be  astonished  to  find  here 
an  expression  of  opinion  that  the  possibilities  of  art 
were  for  a  time  repeatedly  destroyed  by  the  character  of 
contemporary  journalistic  comment.  Rossetti  was  driven 
from  public  exhibition  by  its  hostility  ;  Millais  was  treated 
more  like  a  felon  than  a  man  with  a  noble  purpose,  and 
was  never  greeted  with  calm  judgment  until  his  position 
in  the  Academy  secured  for  him  the  official  respect 
to  which  his  personal  genius  had  entitled  him  from  the 
beginning.  Madox  Brown  from  his  first  appearance 
at  Westminster  Hall  claimed  recognition  as  an  artist 
of  high  standing  and  exalted  promise,  but  though 
manly  character  appeared  in  every  line  of  his  work, 
he  was  met  with  contempt  and  prevented  from  gaining, 
not  only  his  just  due,  but  even  the  most  modest  liveli- 
hood. It  will  be  remembered  that  I  was  upon  the  point 
of  being  driven  from  the  profession  altogether,  and  for 
many  years  general  ridicule  was  so  sure  to  be  my  portion 
that  I  was  in  self-defence  obliged  to  avoid  the  treatment 
of  new  ideas,  since  these  would  on  their  first  appearance 
have  elicited  a  repetition  of  stereotyped  denunciations  and 
consequently  long-retarded  reward. 

One  cannot  of  course  wish  that  the  press,  with  its 
modern  practice  of  comment  on  questions  of  all  public 
interest,  should  abstain  from  making  its  reflections  upon 
matters  of  general  taste.  Temperate  judgments  are  of 
value  ;  but  the  ambition  of  the  writers,  unhampered  by 
any  restraining  influence,  led  them  in  our  day  far  beyond 
temperate  impartiality,  until  they  dogmatised  about 


490         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

abstruse  mysteries  of  our  pursuit  in  a  tone  of  finality  which 
few  practical  men  presumed  to  adopt.  The  truly  initiated 
harden  themselves  against  the  forceful  tide  of  contemporary 
prejudice,  knowing  it  may  sweep  from  a  standing-place 
even  the  elect.  The  old  masters  worked  untrammelled 
by  such  ignorant  dogmatism.  Hazlitt  and  Ruskin  (as 
remarked  by  Mr.  A.  J.  Finberg x)  were,  with  all  their 
eccentricities,  elucidating  critics,  because  they  themselves 
in  certain  branches  were  practised  artists,  Ruskin  being  the 
most  perfect  in  that  to  which  he  especially  devoted  himself 
in  criticism.  But  the  writers  who  became  the  mouthpieces 
of  the  cabal  that  sought  to  ruin  Pre  -  Raphaelitism  had 
scarcely  even  drawn  a  line,  and  they  came  to  their  task 
without  understanding  humility  or  restraint.  It  is  devoutly 
to  be  hoped  that  writers  determining  the  fate  of  future 
art  will  think  seriously  of  the  havoc  wrought  in  the  past, 
and  of  their  own  eternal  responsibility  for  the  judgment 
they  exercise. 

In  conclusion  let  me  warn  the  world  that  the  threat 
to  modern  art,  menacing  nothing  less  than  its  extinction, 
lies  in  "  Impressionism  "  as  a  dogma  without  any  regard  to 
its  limitations.  The  word  "  Impressionism,"  as  used  for 
the  main  ambition  of  art,  is  mere  cant,  offensive  to  all 
who  really  have  acquaintance  with  the  profound  subtleties 
of  art  practice,  yet  by  blatant  repetition  and  determined 
assurance  trumpeted  by  idle  writers,  multitudes  are  cowed 
into  silence,  and  become  incapable  of  expressing  the  opinion 
which  common-sense  suggests  to  them  as  to  the  vacuous 
nature  of  such  pretensions  as  the  "  modernity  "  of  to-day 
reveals.  The  few  better-educated  artists  who,  perhaps 
by  fellow-studentship,  have  been  entrapped  to  figure  as 
monarchs  of  a  draggled  herd  do  sometimes  lend  a  redeem- 
ing grace  to  the  pretensions  of  the  school  ;  but  I  must, 
in  treating  this  subject,  declare  that  as  a  rule  the  greater 
part  of  the  work  figuring  under  the  name  of  "  Impres- 
sionism "  is  childishly  drawn  and  modelled,  ignorantly 
coloured  and  handled,  materialistic  and  soulless.  Let  it 

1  National  Re<viecw. 


xvii     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     491 

be  clearly  known  that  it  is  so,  in  being  destitute  of  that 
spirit  of  vitality  and  poetry  in  nature  which  every  true 
master,  ancient  or  modern,  painter,  sculptor,  or  architect, 
has  given  to  his  simplest  work,  this  supermundane  spirit 
coming  instinctively  from  his  responsible  soul,  whether 
he  intended  or  not  to  teach  any  special  lesson.  Eager 
students,  if  stirred  by  a  true  ambition,  are  drawn  forward 
by  continued  anxiety  lest  they  should  be  found  wanting 
in  the  saving  graces  by  which  their  mighty  precursors 
gained  the  grateful  homage  of  the  world.  The  example 
of  successful  elders  is  carefully  noticed  and  followed 
by  the  young  ;  it  is  therefore  much  more  than  the  mere 
failure  of  the  practitioner  himself  which  is  at  stake  when 
a  passing  vanity  is  made  to  figure  as  a  sober  canon  of 
good  taste. 

For  the  consideration  of  those  who  come  after  us,  ere 
I  give  up  my  record  of  our  Pre-Raphaelite  purpose,  I 
must  reiterate  that  our  determination  in  our  reform  was 
to  abjure  alliance  with  re-classicalism,  to  avoid  revived 
quattro-  or  cinque-centism,  already  powerfully  represented 
in  England,  and  to  supplant  the  cramped  dogmas 
founded  on  these  fashions  by  devoting  our  allegiance  to 
Nature,  and  to  magnifying  her  teachings  for  further  in- 
spiration. We  never  refused  admiration  to  Raphael  nor 
to  his  still  more  prodigious  elder  contemporaries,  Michael 
Angelo  and  Leonardo  da  Vinci,  neither  did  we  refuse 
whatever  vital  teaching  there  was  in  any  ancient  master 
or  school.  We  may  not  in  our  youth  have  seen  the  extent 
of  Reynolds's  power  ;  for  it  needed  a  more  advanced 
experience  to  give  full  knowledge  of  the  variety  and  rich- 
ness of  his  harnessed  genius.  In  principle,  however,  I 
maintain  that  we  had  justice  on  our  side  in  thinking  that 
his  homage  to  the  founders  of  Academies,  such  as  the 
Caracci  and  Le  Brun,  led  him  to  prescribe  laws  derived 
from  them,  which  crippled  the  future  development  of  art. 
The  prophecy  of  Constable,  extracted  from  Leslie,  referred 
to  in  an  earlier  chapter,  and  which  was  first  quoted  by 
me  in  a  short  article  on  Pre-Raphaelitism  in  Chambers's 


492         PRE-RAPHAELITISM  AND  THE       CHAP. 

Encyclopedia,  will  show  that  our  verdict  was  becoming 
inevitable.  We  must  certainly  bear  the  responsibility  of 
arriving  independently  at  Constable's  judgment  on  existent 
art,  but  the  wild  experiments  in  artistic  crotchets  by  later 
alumni,  frightened  at  the  treatment  we  received,  and 
hopeful  of  approval  from  the  enthroned  arbiters  of  fate, 
proves  that  we  only  anticipated  the  inevitable  revolt. 
Unimpassioned  time  will  determine  which  protest  was  the 
more  temperate  and  wise. 

Let  it  be  added  that  the  triumvirate  of  art  in  Italy 
and  the  company  of  great  English  painters  who  founded 
the  British  School  were  too  kingly  and  too  daring  in 
judgment,  in  their  own  work  too  strong  in  humility 
towards  nature,  to  be  bound  by  the  rules  which  they  of 
necessity  prescribed  for  their  pupils.  The  famous  dictum 
of  Sir  Joshua  that  "  rules  were  not  the  fetters  of  genius, 
but  only  of  those  who  have  no  genius,"  we  determined 
to  construe  with  a  more  radical  rendering  than  his 
pupils  first  gave  it,  for  we  decided  that  the  result  of  its 
narrow  interpretation  by  his  followers  had  been  paralys- 
ing, and  that  henceforth  it  should  form  no  shackles 
to  future  investigation  of  truth.  Had  his  remarks 
been  limited  to  the  observance  of  the  sciences  which 
form  the  base  of  graphic  representation,  such  as  the 
undeviating  laws  of  perspective  and  the  forms  and  pro- 
portions of  human  and  animal  creation,  his  dictum  could 
never  have  been  gainsaid,  but  Reynolds's  dogma  was 
accepted  for  the  control  of  imaginative  liberty  ;  it  was 
in  that  sense  that  we  dared  to  rebel  against  it.  If  this 
scaffolding  had  been  of  use  at  first,  it  had  done  its  work, 
and  we  required  that  it  should  be  put  aside  as  in  no  sense 
belonging  to  the  permanent  structure  of  art.  The  windows 
of  the  edifice  should  be  opened  to  the  purity  of  the  azure 
sky,  the  prismatic  sweetness  of  the  distant  hills,  the  gaiety 
of  hue  in  the  spreading  landscape,  and  the  infinite  richness 
of  vegetation.  Nothing  should  henceforth  be  hidden 
from  the  enfranchised  eye  ;  we  undertook  to  show  that 
the  rendering  of  new  delights  was  not  incompatible  with 


xvn     PRE-RAPHAELITE  BROTHERHOOD     493 

the  dignity  of  the  highest  art.  The  purpose  of  art  is, 
in  love  of  guileless  beauty,  to  lead  man  to  distinguish 
between  that  which,  being  clean  in  spirit,  is  productive  of 
virtue,  and  that  which  is  flaunting  and  meretricious  and 
productive  of  ruin  to  a  Nation. 


THE    END 


Primed  b\  R.  &  R.  CLARK,  LIMITED,  Edinburg 


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